OUT-OF-PLANE BUCKLING OF HIGHLY REINFORCED SEISMIC WALLS: DISPLACEMENTS AND MODE OF FAILURE

In the past few years, a concern is observed internationally regarding the seismic mechanical behavior of reinforced concrete walls, especially against their transverse instability under extreme seismic loads. The present work is experimental and examines the influence of tensile strain on out- of-plane buckling of reinforced concrete seismic walls. The experimental work herein consists of 5 scaled test specimens simulating the end regions of structural walls. These specimens were reinforced with the same high longitudinal reinforcement ratio (3.68%). The degree of tensile strain applied was different for each specimen and it took values equal to 0‰, 10‰, 20‰, 30‰ and 50‰. The present work tries to investigate the influence of the degree of tensile strain to the displacements (horizontal and vertical) and the modes of failure of test specimens.