Evaluation of design modifications for enhanced repairability of reinforced concrete walls

Abstract As a consequence of recent earthquakes in New Zealand, many concrete buildings have been demolished due to structural damage. Observations of damage to concrete walls led to substantial research and revisions to design standards to ensure that a satisfactory ductile response was achieved. However, even when the current performance objectives of the design standards are met, reinforced concrete walls may still require extensive or costly post-earthquake repairs. The objective of this project was to evaluate simple modifications to conventional reinforced concrete walls to increase their repairability. Four modified walls were constructed and subjected to cyclic lateral in-plane loading until failure, and compared to a previously tested conventional ductile reinforced concrete benchmark wall that failed at 2.5% drift. The modifications considered included debonding of reinforcement at the wall base, substituting fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) for conventional concrete, and substituting engineered cementitious composite (ECC) for conventional concrete in the ends of the plastic hinge region (applied in two walls). Debonding delayed vertical reinforcement buckling, but failure occurred shortly thereafter (2.5% drift) due to constricted movement of the buckled bars within the debonding sleeves. The FRC and both ECC walls had increased crack propagation up to a drift demand of 0.5%, but then the cracks localized to a single dominant crack and the walls failed at drifts lower than the benchmark wall (about 1.5%). Modifications of the tested details are recommended for future test programs that investigate the repairability of concrete walls.