Seismic Performance Evaluation of RC Moment-Resisting Frames with Typical Non-Structural Walls in Japan

Abstract

Reinforced concrete (RC) buildings are often constructed with non-structural walls. Severe damage to non-structural walls has been observed in many RC buildings after major earthquakes in and around Japan, such as the 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku. Several studies have verified that non-structural walls affect the seismic per-formance of RC buildings. However, no design methodology has been proposed for considering the structural effects of non-structural walls. This study focuses on the RC non-structural walls used as exterior/partition walls in typical residential buildings in Japan. Cyclic loading tests were performed using three 1/2.5 scale, one-story, one-bay RC moment-resisting frame specimens with and without non-structural walls, which were monolithically constructed or structurally isolated by seismic slits. The isolated wall as well as the monolithic wall significantly increased the strength of the moment-resisting frame specimen. Furthermore, this study proposes analytical models to simulate the experimental results and to clarify the effects of non-structural walls on the overall performance of test specimens. The test specimens were replaced by line elements with multi-spring models while considering the interaction between the bending moment and axial force. The analytical simulations generally agreed well with the experimental results. In conclusion, the analytical models applied to the simulations in this study are effective for evaluating the seismic behavior and performance of RC moment-resisting frames with the typical non-structural walls used in Japan.