Seismic performance of squat thin reinforced concrete walls for low-rise constructions

Abstract

Thin reinforced concrete (RC) walls with single layer reinforcement have been used for houses and buildings in everal Latin American countries. Although some design codes include recommendations for squat thin walls in low-rise onstructions, its seismic performance has not been validated adequately in past earthquakes. This article presents the esults of an experimental campaign of nine full-scale pecimens conducted to characterize the influence of the steel type, the reinforcement ratio, and the wall thickness on the eismic behavior of squat thin RC walls with single layer reinforcement. Both welded wire and deformed bars were used as web reinforcement. Experimental results are used to develop nonlinear models to assess the seismic behavior of a prototype two-story house with welded wire reinforcement nd deformed bars by means of incremental dynamic analyses. he experimental results show that the type of steel has the largest influence on wall seismic performance. The numerical results suggest that RC walls with single layer reinforcement are suitable for housing applications up to two stories in high seismicity regions, particularly walls detailed with deformed bars.