Cyclic Behavior of L-Shaped RC Short-Limb Shear Walls with High-Strength Rebar and High-Strength Concrete

Six RC short-limb shear walls with an L-shaped section, constructed with high-strength rebar and high-strength concrete, were loaded to destruction with pseudo-static loading. Experimental results were discussed and compared with L-shaped RC short-limb shear walls with high-strength horizontal rebar in detail. Different failure modes were obtained, such as flexure-dominated failure for specimens with an aspect ratio of 2.8 and 2.15 and bending-shear failure for specimens with an aspect ratio of 1.75. With a decrease in the aspect ratio, ductility decreased, whereas with an increase in the axial compression ratio, the load-carrying capacity increased but ductility decreased accordingly. An obvious pinching effect was found in specimens with a smaller aspect ratio and a higher axial compression ratio. Using high-strength longitudinal rebar and high-strength concrete can obviously improve the lateral load-carrying capacity of walls; and using high-strength horizontal rebar can obviously improve the ultimate deformation capacity. The average ultimate drift ratios of HPLW and LW far exceeded the specification requirements of the Chinese GB50011-2010 code.