Experimental Testing of a Reinforced Concrete Structural Wall Under Cyclic Loads

This report presents the setup and results of an experimental test focused on the seismic performance of a non-ductile reinforced concrete wall. The specimen was a half-scale representation of the lower stories in an 8-story prototype building, constructed in California between the mid-1950s and early 1960s. The cross-section had a barbell shape, with heavily reinforced end pilasters and very light reinforcement in the web region. The specimen was the first in a series of tests, aimed to investigate the strength and failure modes of existing RC wall construction, and also assess the efficiency of different retrofit techniques (the latter will be considered in subsequent tests). Applying lateral displacement cycles of increasing amplitude led to the gradual accumulation of damage. The specimen failed due to the formation of a localized diagonal crack in the web, followed by rupture of several horizontal bars and, ultimately, a sudden shear-crushing failure at the base of the pilaster. The pilaster region also exhibited buckling of the vertical reinforcing bars and rupture of transverse ties. The failure of the specimen was abrupt, occurring at a drift ratio of 1.31%. Computational simulations conducted for the specimen provided further insights on the damage sequence and failure mechanism.