STUDY OF EARTHQUAKE-RESILIENT COUPLED SHEAR WALLS

Earthquake resilience has emerged as one of the frontiers of earthquake engineering. Based on the concept of damage control, this paper proposes a type of earthquake-resilient coupled shear wall, which is composed of low-damage wall piers and replaceable coupling beams. When subjected to strong motions, the low-damage wall piers experience limited damage or even are damage free. The replaceable coupling beams are able to dissipate seismic energy during earthquake event and recover quickly by replacing the damaged ‘fuse’ shear links or dampers. Experimental testing results indicate that the steel tube-double steel plate-concrete composite wall has high strength capacity. The ultimate drift ratio of the slender composite wall reaches 1/33, significantly larger than the deformation capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) walls. At the drift ratio of 1/100, the composite wall has limited damage and, therefore, it can be used as a type of low-damage wall piers. The replaceable steel coupling beam presented in this paper consists of a central ‘fuse’ shear link, connecting to normal steel segments at its two ends. The quasi-static test on a large-scale specimen indicates that inelastic deformation and damage are concentrated in the ‘fuse’ shear link when the coupling beam is subjected to shear reversals. The replaceable coupling beam shows large deformation and energy dissipation capacity, with the ultimate inelastic rotation of 0.06 rad. With the reasonable design for the connection between the shear link and normal beam segments, the ‘fuse’ shear link can be replaced readily after being damaged during severe earthquakes.