Seismic Performance Assessment of Slender T-Shaped Reinforced Concrete Walls

T-shaped slender reinforced concrete (RC) structural walls are commonly used in medium-rise and high-rise buildings as part of lateral force resisting system. Compared to its popularity, experimental results on seismic performance of these walls are relatively sparse, especially for data regarding these walls in the non-principal bending directions. This article aims at providing additional experimental evidence on seismic performance of T-shaped RC structural walls. Experimental results of six T-shaped RC walls were presented. These walls resemble the structural walls found in existing buildings in Singapore and possess slightly inferior details compared to the requirements of modern design codes. The test variables were the loading direction and the axial load ratio. The experimental results were discussed in terms of the failure mechanisms, cracking patterns, hysteretic responses, curvature distributions, displacement components, and strain profiles. In addition, the experimental results were compared with methods commonly adopted in current design practice including the nonlinear section analyses, shear strength models and effective width of the tension flange. The experimental data illustrate that the shear lag effect not only was not accurately accounted for by the effective width method but also significantly affected the strength and stiffness of the tested specimens.