Cyclic Behavior of Partially Prefabricated Steel Shape-Reinforced Concrete Composite Shear Walls: Experiments and Finite Element Analysis

Due to the higher lateral stiffness, load-carrying, and energy dissipation capacities compared with traditional reinforced concrete (R.C.) shear walls, steel shape-reinforced concrete (SRC) shear walls, in which steel profiles are encased in the boundary elements, have been widely applied in high-rise buildings. In order to simplify the on-site construction procedure, this paper proposes a novel partially prefabricated steel shape-reinforced concrete (PPSRC) shear wall using throat connectors. Based on the pseudo-static tests of two large-scale specimens, the effect of construction methods (prefabricated or cast in place) on the cyclic behavior of PPSRC shear walls was investigated by the hysteretic loops, skeleton curves, stiffness degradation, energy dissipation, and deformation decomposition. The test results indicated that PPSRC shear walls could exhibit a comparative cyclic response with the cast-in-place SRC shear walls, and the proposed throat connectors could effectively transfer the stress of the longitudinal reinforcements. Finally, a macro-modeling of PPSRC shear walls based on the multi-layer shell elements in OpenSees 3.3.0 was established and validated by the test results, and the parametric analysis of the axial compression, steel ratio, and concrete strength of prefabricated and cast-in-place parts was then conducted.