Biaxial behaviour of thin concrete walls with rocking base connections

Abstract

Monolithic fixed-based wall panel experienced moderate/severe damage during ground motion. Thus, an alternative wall such as rocking wall system will provide safer structures with minimal damage. This paper will focus on the theoretical aspects resistance capacity followed by experimental works together with visual observation. Slender wall with slenderness ratio of 60:1 is tested under biaxial loading (in-plane and out-of-plane simultaneously) with different amplitudes and frequencies. The wall is constructed with steel-armoured at bottom of wall and a couple of flexural bending energy dissipator is used to absorb some energy during rocking mechanisms. Two-leaves cloves pattern with displacement control are applied to slender wall and some correlation between load and displacement are obtained. The hysteretic loops for in-plane and out-of-plane are plotted separately so that the seismic performance of rocking base connections can be analyzed and assessed accordingly. Finally, conclusion and recommendations are proposed for the construction of single storey warehouse buildings ranging from low to high seismic regions using spectral demands.