Analytical Study on Plastic Hinge Length of Structural Walls

This study was organized to derive an analytical expression for the estimation of plastic hinge length for cantilever structural walls using the results of comprehensive nonlinear finite-element analyses. For that purpose, a parametric study was conducted. The variation of plastic zone length at the base of the cantilever shear wall models was determined on the basis of analysis results that depend on several parameters, such as the wall length, wall height, axial load ratio, and the ratio of wall boundary element and the web horizontal reinforcement. In light of the parametric investigation, a plastic hinge length expression was proposed dependent on wall length, axial load ratio, wall horizontal web reinforcement ratio, and shear-span-to-wall-length ratio. Existing plastic hinge length prediction formulations were also compared with the plastic hinge length obtained from finite-element analyses. Finally, the accuracy and reliability of the proposed plastic hinge length equation was verified by using the available shear wall test results.