Abstract
This article experimentally studies the seismic behavior of reinforced concrete frames with buckling-restrained steel plate shear walls. The buckling-restrained steel plate shear wall is connected to adjacent reinforced concrete beams alone by an embedded steel connector in the beams (two-side connection). This is to avoid the force transfer between the shear wall and adjacent columns with a four-side connection. Four specimens of two-story and one-bay reinforced concrete frames with buckling-restrained steel plate shear walls are designed and tested under monotonic and cyclic loads. Finite element analyses are also conducted to further investigate the advantages of buckling-restrained steel plate shear walls by comparing the behavior of reinforced concrete frames with and without buckling-restrained steel plate shear walls. The results show that the presence of buckling-restrained steel plate shear wall can not only enhance the stiffness and load-bearing capacity but also improve the ductility and energy dissipation capacity of reinforced concrete frame structures. It is found that the drift ratio of the specimens reaches 1/15 under monotonic loads and 1/30 under cyclic loads. The specimens have ductility coefficients greater than 10. Two failure modes are found for reinforced concrete frames with buckling-restrained steel plate shear walls. Damages may concentrate at the base of ground floor columns for a frame with strong connectors, while plastic hinges may form at the ends of beams and columns for frames with weak connectors.
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