INFLUENCE OF ELONGATION DEGREE ON OUT-OF-PLANE BUCKLING OF R/C STRUCTURAL WALLS WITH A MEDIUM HIGH REINFORCEMENT RATIO

Large tensile deformations are expected in the walls' plastic hinge region of their base, depending on their geometric characteristics and their level of ductility design. Due to the cycling nature of loading, these tensile deformations, depending on their size, can cause lateral instability of seismic walls. The present work investigates experimentally one of the most crucial parameters affecting the stability of structural walls, which is the degree of tensile strain of the longitudinal reinforcement of the extreme edges of RC shear walls. Its influence to strength and failure is investigated using 5 test specimens reinforced with the same longitudinal reinforcement ratio (3.19%) but strained to different degrees of elongation.