Seismic behavior of T‐shaped steel reinforced concrete shear walls in tall buildings under cyclic loading

Shear walls are often used as the primary lateral load resisting elements in high‐rise buildings because of their large in‐plane stiffness and strength. It is a common practice to combine rectangular walls to form T‐shaped, I‐shaped and L‐shaped walls for functionality and esthetic reasons. Three relatively slender steel reinforced concrete (SRC) shear walls with T‐shaped cross‐sections were constructed and tested to failure under cyclic lateral loading. This research was conducted to assess the failure mechanism, hysteretic behavior, ductility and energy dissipating capacity of SRC T‐shaped walls under various axial load ratios. All the specimens exhibited a flexural mode characterized by crushing of the concrete and buckling of the steel at the free web boundary. The experimental results showed good hysteretic characteristics without pinching phenomena. The ductility coefficient varied from 2.3 to 4.1, and the deformation capability decreased with the increasing of axial load ratios. The stiffness, strength and ductility of T‐shaped walls are dependent upon the direction of the applied lateral loads. Higher stiffness and strength and lower ductility are achieved when the flange is in tension. The failure mechanism suggested that special attention should be paid to the design of the free web boundary to prevent premature failure under compression. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.