INFLUENCE OF AXIAL COMPRESSION RATIO ON SIZE EFFECT OF RC SHEAR WALL UNDER SHEAR FAILURE: MESO-SCALE SIMULATION

Shear failure is one of the main failure modes of shear walls. The failure behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) shear wall with aspect ratio of 1.0 is analyzed by means of meso-scale numerical analysis. The influences of axial compression ratio on failure mode, shear bearing capacity, ductility and energy dissipation capacity of shear walls with different sizes are studied. The size effect in shear failure of shear wall is analyzed, and the influence of axial compression ratio on the size effect of nominal shear strength is also revealed. The results indicate that all the simulated RC shear walls with different axial compression ratios exhibit obvious shear failure. When the axial compression ratio increases, the shear bearing capacity of shear wall increases, but the ductility and the deformation capacity decreases. With the increasing size of shear wall, its nominal shear strength decreases, that is, there is an obvious size effect. The greater the axial compression ratio is, the more brittle the shear failure is and the more obvious the size effect is. And when the length of shear wall is greater than 1600 mm, its nominal shear strength tends to be constant, and the size effect gradually disappears.