Experimental Study of Seismic Performance of Coupled Shear Wall Structure with Replaceable Coupling Beams

Abstract:

A conventional coupled shear wall specimen and a new coupled shear wall specimen with replaceable coupling beams were designed and tested by low cyclic loading tests. The seismic performance of two types of shear walls were studied and compared. The results show that the two specimens have similar bearing capacity. In addition, the new shear wall possesses larger equivalent viscous damping and displays less strength degradation. Moreover, the replaceable coupling beam of new shear wall make the structural damage concentrate in the fuses, while the other parts of replaceable coupling beams keep intact, which is beneficial to replace the damaged fuse after the earthquake easily.

Key words:replaceable coupling beam; fuse; coupled shear walls; low cyclic tests; equivalent viscous damping coefficient