NUMERICAL STUDY OF STEEL PLATE REINFORCED CONCRETE WALLS BEHAVIOR

Reinforced concrete and steel plate structural walls have been widely used as lateral load resisting systems in buildings. However, they have a number of shortfalls which could be mitigated if a composite construction consisting of both of them is used. Such a composite is called the Steel Plate Reinforced Concrete Wall (SPRCW), that is an innovative type of lateral force resisting structural element, and that is potentially used in buildings and nuclear structures, especially in earthquake regions. This kind of composite is constructed by inserting both steel plate and steel sections into an ordinary reinforced concrete wall. This paper presents a numerical investigation on the bearing capacity and on the performance behavior of such a composite, based on the nonlinear finite element method. By taking the advantage of a commercial finite element package ABAQUS/Explicit code, three-dimensional numerical simulations are performed, addressing the parameters associated with the composite. The results indicate that the bearing capacity and the ductility of reinforced concrete walls were greatly improved by introducing the steel plate.