Quasi static tests of limited ductility RC walls

In Peru the economic housing buildings are built with the structural system of Limited Ductility RC Wall. This RC walls are thin with a single central reinforcement mesh without confinement zones. This system had gained rapid acceptance over traditional systems for its low cost, rapid and easy construction. However, some Peruvian engineers are skeptical about the seismic behavior of these buildings due its apparent low ductility, limited experimental information and lack of experience in events seismic. For this reason, it’s necessary to know more about the behavior of this structural system through experimental and analytical studies. The of this research was to characterize the possible behavior of this wall against lateral displacement through quasi-static tests. This study was part of the research project funded by SENCICO, testing six limited ductility RC walls on a natural scale (2.00 x 0.10 x 2.40 m) following the FEMA 461 test protocol guidelines. Three walls were tested with vertical load of 1.5 MPa and the other three walls without vertical load. Quasi-static tests permitted the characterization of hysteretic behavior and cyclic degradation of limited ductility RC walls. Sliding shear failure, flexural, diagonal tension, diagonal compression and hinge sliding behavior were studied based on visual inspection and processed data. It could be recognized the local damage (concrete failure and buckling of steel rebar) of these walls at different levels of drift. Effective and damping stiffness was calculated at each test phase. Results indicate that limited ductility RC walls have high resistance and adequate ductility despite not having confined zones. However, it’s recommended to test walls with different configurations like T, L and C.