Seismic response of reinforced concrete walls with lap splices

Six large-scale reinforced concrete structural walls were subjected to increasing displacement reversals up to failure. The effects of lap splices, splice length (60 bar diameters and 40 bar diameters), and boundary-element confinement were studied. The aspect ratio of the test walls was 2.2. Although no lap-splice failures occurred, the lap splices caused detrimental effects on the wall response to lateral loads. The measured drift capacity ranged from 2.5 to 3% for the walls without lap splices and from 1.5 to 2% for the walls with lap splices. Increases in drift capacity caused by the boundary-element confining reinforcement ranged between 20 and 67%. Tensile unit strain concentration was observed at the base of walls with lap splices. The relative increment in tensile unit strains was approximately 100%. Compressive unit strains were not observed to be sensitive to the presence of the lap splices.