Experimental research on seismic performance of reinforced concrete short-leg shear wall

Using 1:2 reduced scale model, six T-shaped, six L-shaped short-leg shear wall specimens, and two T-shaped ordinary shear wall specimens were designed and constructed. Through the quasi-static test, the seismic performance of concrete short-leg shear wall components was studied and compared with the ordinary shear wall. The whole process of deforming-damaging-cracking-yielding-failure was observed during the test. Damage characteristics, hysteretic curves, skeleton curves, stiffness degradation, displacement ductility and cross-section deformation of the short leg shear wall specimens were discussed. Test results show that under horizontal loads, the strength and stiffness of the T-shaped and L-shaped short-leg shear wall specimens have obviously asymmetric characteristics. Degradation of the stiffness develops quickly after cracking. During the degradation process, the slowing down of the stiffness degradation is not obvious. At the late stage of the testing the stiffness degradation become unstable. Within the range of large eccentric damage, increasing the axial compression ratio can improve the bearing capacity of components. The change of ductility is not consistent with the change of axial compression ratio. The specimens exhibit the best ductile behavior only when the axial compression ratio is well controlled. Top displacement angle is smaller when the inside of the flange is in compression than when the outside of the flange is in compression. The shear lag phenomenon is quite significant. The main failure pattern is due to shear and flexure. The seismic performance of T-shaped short-leg shear wall is better than the L-shaped shot-leg shear walls. Height to thickness ratio of 6.5 in the short-leg shear wall specimens possesses better seismic performance compared with others.