Shear behavior of concrete walls reinforced by multiple steel profiles Calibration of numerical model

Abstract

The current state of EN 1994 and EN 1992 does not provide correlated solutions related to the design of concrete walls reinforced by multiple steel profiles. Explicitly, Eurocode 4 is setting clear boundaries in the design of composite walls by limiting the possibilities to elements reinforced by a single profile or multiple connected profiles. A number of previous studies have shown that the method proposed by Eurocode 2 regarding classical reinforced walls provides a good prediction of the bending capacity of the wall; however limited information regarding their shear capacity can be found. The current paper is having as starting point a theoretical approach for determining the shear performances of RC wall reinforced by multiple steel profiles, coupled with an experimental campaign. The experimental campaign comprises 6 walls, ranging from a classic RC wall taken as a reference to configurations with multiple profiles with studs or plate stiffeners to ensure the transfer of the longitudinal shear at the steel-concrete interface. The FE model is going to try to reproduce the behavior showed by the walls. The objective of the present paper is to present a comparative analysis between results obtained using a FE software and results from the experimental campaign carried out in the frame of the European research program SmartCoCo. The obtained results will be used to confirm once again the design method based on theoretical reasoning, proposed by the authors and presented in previous papers. This contribution contains a brief description of the test specimens, presents a selection of the most relevant experimental results in parallel with the FE results and a set of conclusions regarding the results. It can be concluded from this set of tests that the new design method is able to predict the shear capacity with a good accuracy and can therefore be considered as a suitable solution for designing practical cases.