Cyclic Lateral Load Test for Shear Wall with Coupling Slab

The present study investigated the contribution of slabs to the lateral load-carrying capacity of shear walls coupled with slabs. Cyclic lateral load tests were conducted on five two-story wall specimens at half scale. The test parameters included the thickness of the slab, the wall opening length, the use of punching shear reinforcement, and the use of parallel walls. The test results showed that, due to the slab effect, the strengths of the coupled wall specimens were 38 to 88% greater than the strength of walls without the slab effect. Furthermore, the initial stiffness of the specimens was significantly increased by the slab effect. During early loading, local failure of the slabs occurred at the wall-slab connection. However, the coupled walls exhibited ductile behavior up to a 2% drift ratio, without significant degradation of strength. Nonlinear finite element analysis was performed on the test specimens. Based on the results, the initial stiffness and effective stiffness of the walls and coupling slabs were evaluated for the seismic design of coupled walls.