Damage assessment of reinforced concrete structural walls under cyclic loading

• Main Author: Ang, Jasmine Jiemin
• Other Authors: Li Bing
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/53932
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This research focuses on the evaluation and classification of damage states for Planar Reinforced Concrete (RC) Wall components of various cross-sections, like rectangular, flanged and barbell-shaped when subjected to cyclic lateral loading. These damage states were determined based on experimental load-deformation data of quasi-statically tested structural wall specimens retrieved from the existing literature. The usefulness of this database stems from the ability to establish a relationship between the damage states of the RC Wall components with its design specification. This information collected enables the prediction of the extent of damage sustained by these shear wall components under different cyclic lateral loading conditions and can be used for future shear wall designs as well as a risk assessment for existing RC wall components. An examination of the load-deformation characteristics of structural walls helps to identify drift i.e. the ratio of wall top displacement and the wall height as the damage identifying parameter known to gauge the structure's performance under earthquakes. This drift ratio in percentage is found to be the most cited demand parameter for structural performance assessment in existing literature. To classify different stages of damage experienced by structural walls quantitatively, a parameter used to determine a numerical damage index needs to be defined. Park-Ang damage model has been chosen to be used in the calculation of the damage index of structural walls as this widely recognized model provides a more realistic representation of the response of these structural components by taking into account of their hysteretic nature. Thereafter, the damage states are classified into five categories namely No damage, Partial damage, Moderate damage, Huge damage and Complete collapse by exploring the behavioral aspects experienced by structural walls when subjected to quasi-static cyclic loading. Since Earthquake Structures are generally designed to be performance-based, these damage states are then related to their Method of Repair to incorporate the economic cost that might be incurred due to these damage. Finally, fragility functions were developed to predict the the probability of the MOR required for a certain Drift for the different types of Walls using standard probability distribution.