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Strength and Deformation Characteristics of Reinforced Concrete Walls under

Load Reversals

Article  in  Aci Structural Journal · November 1990

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 ACI STRUCTURAL JOURNAL TECHNICAL PAPER
Title no. 87-S74

Strength and Deformation Characteristics of Reinforced

Concrete Walls under Load Reversals

by Joannis D. Lefas and Michael D. Kotsovos

This paper is concerned with an investigation of the effect of loading
history and repair methods on the structural characteristics of rein-
forced concrete walls. Large-scale slender wall models were tested to
failure, then unloaded, repaired, and retested to destruction under
various regimes of cyclic horizontal loading. It was found that, while
repairing only the damaged regions of the compressive zone was suf-
ficient to fully restore wall strength, the additional use of epoxy res-
ins to heal major flexural and inclined web cracks led only to a mar-
ginal improvement of the structural characteristics, the latter being
distinctly inferior to those of the original walls. Such results are in
compliance with the concept of the compressive force path and dem-
onstrate that, in contrast to widely held views, the compressive zone
is the main contributor to shear resistance.
In view of the preceding, the work described in the
following paragraphs is concerned with an experimen-
tal investigation of the behavior of walls repaired after
they had been subjected to various degrees of damage.
The repair technique and loading history were the main
parameters investigated, whereas, in an attempt to de-
velop criteria for selecting the most suitable repair
technique, attention was focused not only on measured
structural response characteristics such as strength, de-
formation, stiffness, and energy dissipation, but also on
the causes of the observed structural behavior.

Keywords: deformation: failure; flexural strength; loads (forces); reinforced

concrete; repairs; shear strength; strength; walls. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE
This paper forms part of a comprehensive investiga-
Structural walls have been favored for the design of tion of the causes of failure of reinforced concrete walls
reinforced concrete buildings in seismic zone areas be- and attempts to establish sound theoretical basis for the
cause they provide an efficient bracing system and of- development of simple and rational design procedures.
fer great potential for lateral load resistance and drift
control. Loads on structures due to earthquake are not
EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMS
unlikely to reach, if not exceed, the design load levels.
Four identical wall specimens (SW30, SW31, SW32,
Hence, structural damage to walls is inevitable and re-
SW33) were constructed at 1/2.4-scale with constant
pair is frequently necessary. Yet, information on repair
thickness b and a height-to-width ratio h/1 equal to 2.
methods and data related to the strength and deforma-
These walls, considered to represent the critical story
tion characteristics of repaired walls is limited. 1-5
element of a structural wall system with a rectangular
Moreover, a comprehensive review of the experimen-
cross section, were tested to failure after being sub-
tal work carried out to date on the behavior of original6
jected to either monotonic (SW30) or various slow cy-
and repaired4 structural walls subjected to monotonic
clic horizontal loading regimes (SW31, SW32, and
and cyclic horizontal loading concluded that the
SW33). Only three of the specimens (SW31, SW32, and
soundness of some code provisions regarding the de-
SW33) were repaired and retested as Specimens
sign of structural walls against seismic excitations is
SW31R, SW32R, and SW33R; as the fourth (SW30)
questionable. A similar conclusion was drawn in a more
had been damaged beyond repair. To study the effect
recent analyticaF·8 and experimental9 •10 work on wall
of the loading regime on the repaired walls, Specimen
behavior, which demonstrated that, in contrast to cur-
SW31R was subjected to monotonic horizontal load-
rent concepts, it is the strength of the compressive zone
that is the main contributor to shear resistance and not
the "cracked" concrete in regions subjected to pre- ACI Structural Journal, V. 87, No.6, November-December 1990.
Received Nov. 30, 1989, and reviewed under Institute publication policies.
dominantly tensile stress conditions. Such behavior has Copyright © 1990, American Concrete Institute. All rights reserved, including
direct relevance to the techniques adopted for repairing the making of copies unless permission is obtained from the copyright propri-
etors. Pertinent discussion will be published in the September-October 1991 ACI
damaged walls. Structural Journal if received by May I, 1991.

716 ACI Structural Journal I November-December 1990

. Michael D. Kotsovos is a lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering, Im-
perial College of Science and Technology, London, England. His research ac-
100
t---1

tivities cover a wide range of topics related to concrete structures and technol-
ogy such as fracture mechanics, constitutive relationships, finite element anal-
ysis, model testing, and design procedures. -- ==
ACI member Joannis D. Lefas is a research assistant in the Department of Civil
Engineering, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London,
England. He graduated from the National Technical University of Athens and
obtained his MSc and PhD degrees from Imperial College, London. He is cur-
-- -- r~
rently carrying out postdoctoral research on the nonlinear modeling of rein-
I= I= ==
r~
forced concrete structures subjected to cyclic loading. His research interests also
cover a wide range of topics related to structural and earthquake engineering. 0
..,
0

0
8
~~ -I= 8 11"1

ing, while the remaining two specimens were subjected L _j !::

to cyclic loading regimes similar to those applied on the

original specimens. ~I= ==
Wall details
The walls tested were 650 mm wide, 1300 mm high,
and 65 mm thick. In all cases they were monolithically 0

connected to an upper and lower beam; the former

0
..,
functioned both as the element through which vertical
and horizontal loads were applied on the walls, as well
as a cage for anchoring the vertical bars, while the lat-
ter was utilized to clamp down the specimen to the lab-
oratory floor, simulating a rigid foundation.
The nominal dimensions of the specimens, together
250 650
1150
250

-
~

67.5 65 67.5
200

SECTION

with the arrangement of vertical and horizontal rein-

SECTION
8-8 Iss A-A

forcement, are shown in Fig. 1. The vertical and hori-

140 370 140
zontal reinforcement comprised high-tensile deformed
650
steel bars of 8 and 6.25 mm diameter, respectively. Ad-
ditional reinforcement in the form of stirrups confined Fig. ]-Geometry and reinforcement details of wall
the wall edges. Mild steel bars of 4 mm diameter were specimens tested in the program (I mm = 0.0394 in.)
used for this purpose. The yield fs, and ultimate
strength fsu characteristics of the steel bars used are Table 1 - Properties of reinforcing bars
summarized in Table 1. Yield strength Ultimate strength
Type j"', MPa j.,,MPa
While the vertical reinforcement was designed in
8 mm high-tensile bar 470 565
compliance with the recommendations of the ACI 6.25 mm high-tensile bar 520 610
Building Code 11 for a given bending moment at the base 4 mm mild steel bar 420 490
of the wall, the design of the horizontal reinforcement I mm = 0.0394 in.; I MPa = 145 psi.
was based on the results obtained from previous
work, 9•10 which indicated that for the case of the walls which involved only the replacement of the damaged
investigated in the present program, the provision of concrete in the compressive zone (Specimen SW33); and
almost nominal reinforcement was sufficient to safe- Method B, which involved not only the replacement of
guard against brittle failure. The preceding design so- the damaged concrete in the compressive zone but also
lution has been preferred because it lacks the ambiguity the healing of the major tension and inclined cracks in
that characterizes the code recommendations 11 • 13 for the the wall web with epoxy resin (Specimens SW31 and
case of plastic hinge regions, where wide flexural cracks SW32).
occur due to ductile flexural response under the com- In all cases, the damaged concrete of the lower re-
bined action of a horizontal and a relatively low verti- gion of the compressive zone was removed throughout
cal load. the wall thickness to about 150 mm in width and 100
mm in height and the exposed, slightly buckled steel
Repair procedure bars of the compressive zone were straightened. Note
The failure mode of the original specimens (dis- that no special treatment was carried out for the yielded
cussed in detail later) was characterized by nearly ver- tensile vertical bars and the confinement reinforcement
tical splitting of the lower region of the compressive of the edge members.
zone combined with flexural and inclined cracking. The At the interface between the old and new concrete,
vertical splitting eventually led to complete crushing of the ·aggregates of the old concrete were exposed and
that region. wire-brushed to remove any loose material. This pro-
Two methods were used to repair the damaged cedure insured a good bond between the two concretes.
(cracked) concrete in the test specimens: Method A, Wooden formwork was placed around the crushed
ACI Structural Journal I November-December 1990 717
Table 2 - Concrete mix proportions by weight used are given in Table 2, while the cube strength feu at
Proportions by weight 45 MPa mix 30 MPa mix* the day of testing of the original and repaired speci-
10 mm aggregate 3.15 3.60 mens are included in Table 3.
Coarse sand 2.00 2.30 For the specimens repaired using Method B, all flex-
Fine sand 0.89 1.03 ural cracks, except those with a width less than 0.2 mm,
Cement 1.00 1.00 were injected with a very low-viscosity epoxy resin.
Free water 0.68 0.78 First, an epoxy adhesive was used to tightly seal the
*Specimens SW30, SW31, and SW31R. cracks along their entire length on both sides of the
I mm = 0.0394 in.; I MPa = 145 psi.
Top Horizontal
wall, and then nozzles were positioned and glued into
Oisplocement lmml concrete in a staggered manner at approximately 50 mm
SW31 +24 spacing. The resin was later injected with a pressure
+16
•40 •8
gun through these nozzles before they were sealed off.
-8
-40
No of cycles No of cycln
Loading history and testing procedures
-80 -16
-120 -24 To simulate the loading sequence that might be ex-
pected to occur during an earthquake, three simplified
types of horizontal cyclic loading history were adopted.
Loading history A is the pseudo equivalent of a field
Top Horizontal
Displacement lmm} event which results in a base shear that mainly shakes
SW32
+120 SW32R' • 27 the wall up to the first yield of the wall tensile rein-
•80 +18
+40 •9
forcement before loading it up to failure (Specimen
SW31). Loading history B is representative of an event
-40 -9 with greater prefailure severity for the wall. It is asso-
ciated with a: number of prefailure cycles that cause
-18 No of cycles
-80
-120 -27
yielding of all the vertical reinforcement within the ten-
sile edge of the wall (Specimens SW32 and SW32R).
Finally, cyclic loading regime C blends characteristics
Top Horizontal of the previous two case studies (Specimens SW33 and
FH IKNI SW33
Displacement (mml
SW33R); after the horizontal load corresponding to ei-
+120 SW33R"
+80
ther first or full yielding of the edge tensile reinforce-
+40 +9 ment had been reached, the walls were subjected to cy-
-9
cles of given maximum horizontal displacement. Fig. 2
-40
-80 -18 No of cycles provides a schematic representation of the loading pro-
-120 -27 grams used for the tests in terms of horizontal load F H
Fig. 2-Schematic representation of the loading history and top horizontal displacement.
adopted for the cyclic tests in terms of horizontal load All specimens were incrementally loaded with a hor-
FH and top horizontal displacement (1 mm = 0.0394 izontal load of 10 kN. At each increment the load was
in.; I kN = 0.225 kip) maintained constant for at least 2 min to measure the
concrete zones and new concrete with mix proportions load and deformation response of the walls, mark the
similar to those of the old concrete was placed in the cracks, and take photographs of the wall crack pattern.
repair zones. All repairs were carried out with the walls Pressure transducers in the hydraulic supply line of the
lying horizontal. For the first 7 days, the new concrete rams provided accurate measurement of the applied
was kept under wet hessians and then cured under lab- load. Twelve linear potensiometers were used to moni-
oratory conditions. Full details of the concrete mixes tor in-plane and out-of-plane horizontal displacements
Table 3 - Experimental data and principal results of walls tested
Reinforcement percentage Cube Top
strength, Type of horizontal
f~· loading/repair Ultimate displacement,
Specimen Phor
* p,,,' Ptw.' p,§ MPa method load, kN mm
SW30 0.35 1.5 3.3 0.9 30.1 Monotonic/- 117.7 20.9
SW31 0.35 1.5 3.3 0.9 35.2 Cyclic/- 115.8 22.2
SW31R 0.35 1.5 3.3 0.9 34.9 Monotonic/B 139.6 24.0
SW32 0.35 1.5 3.3 0.9 53.6 Cyclic/- 111.0 24.5
SW32R 0.35 1.5 3.3 0.9 38.2 Cyclic/B 82.8 14.0
SW33 0.35 1.5 3.3 0.9 49.2 Cyclic/- 111.5 25.0
SW33R 0.35 1.5 3.3 0.9 38.1 Cyclic/A 93.9 16.7
*p,M = ratto of honzontal remforcement to gross concrete area of vertical sectton of wall web.
'P~ = ratio of vertical web reinforcement to gross concrete area of horizontal section of wall web.
lp""' = ratio of main flexural reinforcement to gross concrete area of edge element.
lp, = ratio of effective volume of confinement reinforcement to the volume of the core.
I mm = 0.0394 in.; I MPa = 145 ksi; I kN = 0.225 kip.

718 ACI Structural Journal I November-December 1990

 160
-, Table 4 - Code-predicted and measured values HORIZONTAL LOAD (kN)
of ultimate horizontal load for walls tested 140

120
Predicted Predicted Measured Observed
strength, kN failure strength, failure 100

Specimen Flexure* Sheart mode kN mode 80

SW30 71.9/83.7 121.6 Ductile 117.7 Ductile so

SW32
SW31 73.8/86.0 76.9 Brittle 115.8 Ductile
SW31R 73.6/85.8 121.6 Ductile 139.6 Ductile
-25 ·20 ·I 10 15 20
SW32 80.6/94.1 76.9 Brittle 111.0 Ductile
Snapping of TOP HORIZONTAL
SW32R 75.5/87.9 76.9 Brittle 82.8 DISPLACEMENT (rom)
tensile
reinforcement
SW33 79.1192.3 76.9 Brittle 111.5 Ductile
-100
SW33R 75.4/87.7 76.9 Brittle 93.9 Ductile
-120
*Calculated monotonic flexural strength from analysis based on strain com-
patibility using measured material properties with/without considering strain -1-40
hardening of reinforcement. -160
lal
tNegligible concrete contribution to shear in plastic hinge regions subjected
to post-yield load reversals.
I kN = 0.225 kip.
160
HORIZONTAL LOAD (kN)
140
1so HORIZONTAL LOAD (kN)
120

100

80

so
SW32R

-2 10 15 20

TOP HORIZONTAL
DISPLACEMENT (rom)
-·
-100

-120
-eo -uo
-100 -160
(b)

-120

Fig. 4-Horizontalload versus top horizontal displace-

-lBO
Fig. 3-Horizontalload versus top horizontal displace-
ment curves for wall specimens SW30, SW31, and
SW31R (1 mm = 0.0394 in.; 1 kN = 0.225 kip)
at selected wall elevations, as well as vertical displace-
ments of the top of the wall and the foundation beam.
Strain gages were employed for the original specimens
to measure steel strains of the longitudinal reinforcing
steels at the four corners of the wall edges and near the
foundation beam. The measured values of load, dis-
placement, and strain were recorded by a computer-
logger capable of measuring to a sensitivity of ± 0.1 N,
±0.0001 mm, and ± 12 microstrains, respectively, with
a speed of about 10 channels per sec.
RESULTS OF TESTS
The main results of the tests, together with informa-
tion necessary for their interpretation, are given in Ta-
bles 3 and 4 and Fig. 3 through 10. Table 3 provides
information related to the experimental data and the
principal results of the specimens tested in the pro-
gram. Fig. 3 through 5 depict the horizontal load-top
ACI Structural Journal I November-December 1990
ment curves for wall specimens (a) SW32 and (b)
SW32R (1 mm = 0.0394 in.; 1 kN = 0.225 kip)
displacement curve established from the tests for all the
specimens. Fig. 6 shows the pattern of variation of se-
cant stiffness of the specimens with increasing horizon-
tal load, while Fig. 7 illustrates variations of tensile
(positive) and compressive (negative) steel strains with
increasing horizontal load for a typical specimen of the
series. Finally, typical stages of the cracking process
and behavior up to incipient failure, exhibited by both
the original and repaired specimens tested in the pro-
gram, are shown in Fig. 8 and 9, respectively, while
representative modes of failure of the walls are shown
in Fig. 10. Table 4 summarizes code predictions for
wall strength and compares them with the experimen-
tally established load-carrying capacity of the walls.
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
Note that the walls were essentially subjected to the
intended in-plane actions (measured maximum value of
out-of-plane displacement smaller than 0.25 percent of
the wall height and boundary conditions at the wall
base were adequately described by the fixed end as-
719
 160 HORJZONTAL LOAD (kN) AVERAGE SECANr
60 STIFFNESS (kN/mm)
140

120

100 so
80 _ _ _ original specimens
(average)
60
40 repaired specimens
SW33 ---- cyclie/melhod A
-·-·-.- monotonie/melhod B
-•-•- cycliC/method B
30

TOP HORJZONTAL
DISPLACEMENT (mm) 20

-8o
10
-100
\
-120

-1<40
20 40 60 80 100 120 140
-160 (al
HORIZDNTAL WAD (kN)

Fig. 6- Variation of secant stiffness with horizontal

160
load for the specimens tested in the program (I mm
HORJZONTAL LOAD (kN) 0.0394 in.; I kN = 0.225 kip; I MPa = I45 psi)
140

120

100
fleet the effect of the loading history on the strength of
80
the vertical reinforcement. For Wall SW31R, under
so monotonic loading, the increase in strength may be due
SW33R to the strain-hardening response exhibited by the rein-
forcement, as the cyclic loading regime applied to the
original specimen may not have affected the steel
-2 -20 -15 10 15 20
strength characteristics. In contrast with such behavior,
-40
TOP HORJZONTAL the cyclic loading applied to Specimens SW32, SW32R,
DISPLACEMENT (mm)
-so SW33, and SW33R caused strain-softening of the rein-
-80
forcement and, thus, a reduction in wall strength. Note
-100
that both the repair method and cyclic loading regime
-120
employed appear to have had an insignificant effect on
-140
the ultimate strength of the walls.
-160
(b)
The horizontal load-top horizontal displacement
curves of Walls SW31, SW32, and SW33 shown in Fig.
3, 4(a), and 5(a), respectively, indicate a distinctly non-
Fig. 5-Horizontalload versus top horizontal displace-
ment curves for wall specimens (a) SW33 and (b) linear deformational response for all three walls. The
SW33R (1 mm = 0.0394 in.; 1 kN = 0.225 kip) curves were flattened when about 95 percent of the wall
capacity was reached. Even though the deformational
response of the repaired walls under both monotonic
sumption, as the base rotation was found to be insig-
and cyclic loading was nonlinear, it was less ductile
nificant).14
than that of the original specimens. Fig. 3, 4(b), and
5(b) clearly illustrate that the yield plateau of the load-
Strength, deformation, and stiffness displacement curve was shorter and less flat for the re-
characteristics paired specimens. Another interesting feature of the
Table 3 indicates that the horizontal load-carrying curves is the dependence of their initial shape on the
capacity of the original specimens was similar, whereas method of repair employed; while the initial shape for
that of the repaired walls exhibits significant variabil- the epoxy-repaired specimens is almost similar to that
ity. Specimen SW31R, subjected to monotonic loading, of the original specimens, the specimens repaired by
exhibited a load-carrying capacity much higher than Method A are characterized by a nearly linear load-dis-
that of the original wall SW31, whereas in contrast with placement curve. The measured average values of top
such behavior, the average ultimate strength of the re- horizontal displacement for both repaired and original
paired walls SW32R and SW33R, subjected to cyclic walls are included in Table 3, which indicates that,
loading, was only 80 percent of the strength of the while the values are slightly higher for the repaired
original walls SW32 and SW33, respectively. Since the wall under monotonic loading, those for the repaired
strength of the concrete used for repair differed only walls subjected to cyclic loading are nearly 40 percent
slightly from that of the original specimens, the varia- smaller than the values measured for the original spec-
tion in wall strength is considered to predominantly re- imens.
720 ACI Structural Journal I November-December 1990
 120
FH IKNI
-24000 -16000 -BODO
SW33
FH IKNI
n
Gouge 4
-24000 -16000 \6000 24000
microstroins
-120
Fig. 7- Variation of average strain of the longitudinal reinforcement with varying
horizontal load for a typical original specimen subjected to cyclic loading (1 kN =
0.225 kip)
The variation of the secant stiffness with horizontal
load of the original specimens, illustrated in Fig. 6, in-
dicates that the wall stiffness decreases to half its value
corresponding to the initiation of visible cracking when
first yielding of tensile reinforcement occurs while, at
the ultimate level, its value drops to only 16 percent of
that prior to cracking. Note that, as the load-displace-
ment curves of Fig. 3, 4(a), and 5(a) illustrate, the wall
stiffness characteristics may be considered independent
of the severity of the cyclic loading regime. The re-
paired walls exhibited a lower stiffness than the origi-
nal ones, with an average value of about 35 percent of
the initial stiffness (see Fig. 6). Although the repaired
specimens with epoxy resin showed a stiffer response,
the enhancement was limited. Such behavior may be
attributed to the fact that some of the cracks were too
narrow to be injected with epoxy. Note that for all
specimens subjected to cyclic loading and for a given
number of cycles, increasing the maximum displace-
ment of the loading cycle increases stiffness deteriora-
tion (see Fig. 3 through 5). Furthermore, after a num-
ber of cycles, the decrease in secant stiffness is smaller
than the decay occurring during the first couple of
cycles.
Energy dissipation and strain measurements
As Fig. 3 through 5 illustrate, the energy dissipated
during the first cycle to a given ductility was signifi-
cantly larger than the amount of energy dissipated dur-
ing the following cycles at the same ductility level (note
the "pinching" effect in the hysteresis loops of the sec-
ond and following cycles). For the original specimens,
the energy dissipated during the second cycle was 65
percent of the energy dissipated during the first cycle,
ACI Structural Journal I November-December 1990
... FH IKNI
••
•• Gauge 2
-24000 -16000 -80(10 24000
-··
-··
-120
120
••
..
FH
IKNI
Gauge 3
-24000 -16000 -BODO 8000 16000 24000
-·· microstrains
-··
-120
since the latter is mainly responsible for the wall crack-
ing to a given ductility. After four load cycles to a given
ductility, the energy dropped to 40 percent of the initial
dissipated energy. The experimental data also point out
that the amount of energy dissipation increases consid-
erably with the ductility level of the cyclic loading (see
Fig. 4 and 5). This implies that energy dissipation is
predominantly associated with the yielding of the ten-
sile bars rather than the concrete cracking. Fig. 4(b)
and 5(b) indicate that the ability of the repaired walls
to dissipate energy was reduced to about 50 percent in
the first cycle and 20 to 30 percent in subsequent cy-
cles, depending on the level of the imposed displace-
ment ductility. Also note that the epoxy-repaired Wall
SW32R dissipated a larger amount of energy and ex-
hibited a less pronounced "pinched" shape of the hys-
teresis loops than Wall SW33R. Such behavior may be
attributed to the additional cracks that formed in the
epoxy-repaired specimens when loaded to the same dis-
placement ductility.
The strain gage readings, presented in Fig. 7 for a
typical original specimen, indicate that the vertical re-
inforcement in all cases exhibited considerable post-
yield deformations prior to failure. The average strain
values of the outer tensile and compressive steel bars,
recorded prior to failure, were + 22,500 and - 6650
microstrains, respectively. Note that when the speci-
mens were unloaded, after being subjected to a given
ductility, a residual tensile strain was observed in both
the outer and inner tensile bars of the wall edge, which
increased with the increase in ductility. This phenome-
non implies that the flexural cracks near the bottom
tensile section of the wall did not close during unload-
ing. It is also worth noting that the values of the neu-
721
 (a) hor. load =6 5kN
Fig. B(a)-Significant stages of cracking process exhib-
ited by original specimens (1 kN = 0.225 kip)
tral axis depth, calculated by using strain measure-
ments, are in compliance with values calculated by us-
ing the measured crack depth.
Cracking process and failure mode
For all specimens, flexural cracks initially appeared
near the bottom part of the tensile zone of the walls,
when only 15 percent of the wall capacity was reached.
As the horizontal load approached 60 percent of its
maximum value, significant inclined cracks initiated at
the tension zone of the walls during consecutive load
reversals, and penetrated deeply into the web near the
compressive zone [see Fig. 8(a) and 9(a)]. These cracks
formed an orthogonally crisscrossing crack pattern,
which had a higher intensity for specimens subjected to
cycles of loading to higher ductility levels, as Fig. 8(b)
722
Fig. B(b)-Significant stages of cracking process exhib-
ited by original specimens (1 kN = 0.225 kip)
demonstrates. Whereas in the specimens repaired by
Method A, cracking had a pattern identical to that of
the original specimens, specimens repaired by using ep-
oxy resin developed additional cracks between the old
repaired cracks, particularly at the early loading stages,
and only at later loading stages did some of the origi-
nal cracks repaired by epoxy reopen. Beyond a load
level of 80 percent of the failure load, the crack pattern
underwent insignificant changes [see Fig. 9(b)). Just
prior to failure, the concrete cover at the lower com-
pressive edge of the wall spalled off and near-vertical
cracks formed in the compressive zone between the
deepest flexural cracks, as depicted by Fig. 8(c) and
9(c). This finally led to failure of the compressive zone
of the wall. Fig. 10 shows that, as in the case of the
original walls, vertical cracking eventually caused fail-
ACI Structural Journal I November-December 1990

(c) hor. !oad=110kN
Fig. 8(c)-Significant stages of cracking process exhib-
ited by original specimens (1 kN = 0.225 kip)
ure of the compressive zone and led to a drop of the
horizontal load-carrying capacity of the specimens.
Note that one load stage prior to failure, the width of
the major flexural cracks became considerable (ap-
proximately equal to 1.2 mm) and such crack widths
may be considered to indicate that the "shear resis-
tance" of the wall web due to aggregate interlock is in-
significant, if it exists at all.
While the failure mechanism of Wall SW33R was
similar to that characterizing the original specimens and
Specimen SW31R, Wall SW32R [though cycled four
times at + 90kN (displacement ductility = 2)], when
excited to a higher displacement level, failed due to
fracture of the main tensile bars at a load level of
+ 83kN. Such failure should be associated with the
ACI Structural Journal I November-December 1990
( a l h or. I o ad =50 k N
Fig. 9(a)-Significant stages of cracking process exhib-
ited by repaired specimens (1 kN = 0.225 kip)
loading history of original Wall SW32 [see Fig. 4(a)],
which was subjected to cyclic loading at higher ductil-
ity levels that may have caused fatigue of the tensile
bars of the repaired specimens.
Causes of wall resistance
As Table 4 indicates, the experimentally obtained
wall strength exceeded by a significant margin the val-
ues of horizontal load corresponding to either flexural
capacity or shear strength (assuming that the concrete
contribution to shear in a plastic hinge region subjected
to load reversals is considered equal to zero). Further-
more, the similarity in behavior exhibited by the walls
repaired by Methods A and B, irrespective of the
amount of horizontal reinforcement, appears to indi-
723
 (c) hor. load=93kN
Fig. 9(b)-Significant stages of cracking process exhib-
ited by repaired specimens (I kN = 0.225 kip)
cate that the wall resistance to high levels of applied
shear stresses cannot be improved by strengthening the
web of the wall.
Fig. 8(c) and 9(c) indicate that collapse of all the
specimens occurred due to failure of the compressive
zone, except for the case of Wall SW32R, which failed
due to the fatigue of the tensile bars of the specimen.
In all cases, the deepest of the flexural cracks reduced
the depth of the compressive zone to a small value as
the ultimate limit state was approached. Despite its
small depth, the compressive zone appears to be the
main contributor to shear resistance, since neither the
horizontal web reinforcement nor aggregate interlock
were found to significantly affect the wall strength. The
reasoning for the high resistance of the compressive
zone to boundary shear forces has been discussed in
724
(c) hor. load=93kN
Fig. 9(c)-Significant stages of cracking process exhib-
ited by repaired specimens (I kN = 0.225 kip)
detail in the earlier paper. 9 In fact, the experimental re-
sults obtained in the present work have quite conclu-
sively demonstrated that wall resistance to high shear
stresses is associated with the strength of concrete in the
region of the path along which the compressive force is
transmitted to the supports, with the portion of the
structural element in tension making an insignificant
contribution, if any. Structural failure is characterized
by longitudinal cracking within the compressive zone
and such a mode of failure is in compliance with the
concept of the compressive force path, 15 which explains
why strengthening of the compressive zone in the re-
gion of the maximum bending moment is sufficient to
restore the wall load-carrying capacity of the damaged
specimens, unless the fatigue of the tensile bars results
in an early failure.
ACI Structural Journal I November-December 1990
...

Fig. JO(a)-Typical mode of failure of original specimen tested in the program

Fig. JO(b)-Typica/ mode of failure of repaired specimen tested in the program

CONCLUSIONS strength. In all cases investigated, the repaired walls

1. The strength and deformational response of the
original specimens were found to be independent of the
cyclic loading regime. Slender wall specimens with an
almost nominal amount of horizontal reinforcement
showed distinct flexural behavior prior to failure, dis-
~ting considerable amounts of energy .
. The load-carrying capacity of the repaired walls
ends mainly on the loading history of the reinforc-
steel and is essentially independent of the concrete
Structural Journal I November-December 1990
exhibited lower stiffness and less ductility than the
original ones. Although the use of epoxy resins appears
to have an insignificant effect on the ultimate strength
of the walls, it was found to improve both stiffness and
the energy-dissipation characteristics of the walls at the
serviceability limit state.
3. The observed crack patterns and failure modes of
both the original and repaired walls are in compliance
with the concept of the compressive force path, since
725

Fig. JO(c)-Typica/ mode of failure of repaired specimen tested in the program
they indicate that the wall capacity is associated with
the strength of concrete in the region of the compres-
sive zone where the bending moment is maximum and
not, as is widely believed, with the strength of the in-
clined concrete strut. Such behavior implies that re-
pairing the walls had little, if any, effect on the causes
of the observed structural behavior.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Financial support and technical advice from SIKA INERTOL,
Watchmead, Welwyn Garden City, Herts, United Kingdom is grate-
fully acknowledged.
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ACI Structural Journal I November-December