Issue 78

S. A. Mustafa et alii, Fracture and Structural Integrity, 78 (2026) 298-314; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.78.18

Shear walls test setup Each shear wall was anchored to a reinforced concrete foundation block which provided a rigid base, ensuring that the wall’s base did not move during testing. The testing machine with a 500 kN hydraulic actuator, connected to a rigid reaction frame was used to apply the cyclic load. The reaction frame restrained the actuator and prevented any unwanted out-of-plane movement. The head cap provided uniform loading across the top surface of the wall, minimizing bending or twisting that might affect the experimental findings. The applied lateral force was measured by a load cell located between the actuator and the head cap, while the movements at the top of the wall were recorded by displacement transducers; as shown in Fig. 7. The applied lateral load was measured using a calibrated load cell with a capacity of 1000 kN installed between the hydraulic actuator and the loading head. Horizontal displacements were monitored using linear variable differential transformers (LVDTs) with a stroke capacity of ±200 mm with reading accuracy of 0.0001 mm. One LVDT was positioned at the top loading beam to measure the lateral displacement of the wall. Additional LVDTs were installed at the wall-foundation interface to monitor possible base slip and uplift during cyclic loading. A displacement-controlled loading protocol was used to simulate increasing levels of lateral deformation. The wall specimens were subjected to fully reversed cyclic lateral displacements with gradually increasing displacement amplitudes, as shown in Fig. 8. Each displacement level was repeated twice to capture the cyclic behavior and possible strength degradation. The main measurements recorded during testing were the lateral load and the top displacement. Throughout the test, displacements were continuously recorded using the laboratory’s data acquisition system, allowing full evaluation of each wall’s hysteretic response, stiffness degradation, and strength deterioration. In this study, the cracking load was defined as the load corresponding to the first visually observable crack detected during testing. Since crack identification was based on visual observation, the reported values represent the onset of visible cracking and do not necessarily correspond to the initiation of microscopic cracking within the concrete.

Figure 7: Shear wall Test setup.

Figure 8: Loading History.

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