Cyclic response of reinforced concrete walls with different anchorage details: Experimental investigation

Previoustestsofstructuralwallshaveroutinelyusedcontinuousreinforcementextendingfromthefoundationtothetopofthespec- imen. This detailing is consistently different from that of multistory walls in the field, which incorporate splices in the wall longitudinal rein- forcement above the wall-foundation interface. As a result, the performance of walls incorporating continuous reinforcement in the laboratory may not be representative of walls in the field that use lap splices or mechanical couplers near the wall base. This paper investigates lateral load behavior of three nominally identical structural walls with continuous reinforcement, lap splices, and mechanical couplers in the plastic hinge region, and quantifies the differences in their responses using force-displacement response, lateral deformation components, and energy dissipation estimated using equivalent viscous damping. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0000732. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers. CE Database subject headings: Anchorages; Cyclic loads; Plastic hinges; Reinforced concrete; Seismic design; Shear walls; Experimentation. Author keywords: Anchorage; Lap splice; Mechanical coupler; Cyclic loads; Plastic hinges; Reinforced concrete; Seismic design; Shear walls.