Biography
Biography: Siamak Epackachi
Abstract
Steel-plate concrete (SC) composite walls consisting of steel faceplates, infill concrete and connectors have potential advantages over conventional reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls in terms of constructability and seismic performance. SC panels enable modular construction leading to potential time and cost savings over conventional reinforced concrete walls. Double skin SC wall shells can be fabricated offsite, assembled on site and filled on-site with concrete to create monolithic structure. The use of steel faceplates eliminates the need for on-site formwork and the faceplates serve as primary reinforcement. The data from cyclic loading of SC and RC walls with identical shear-to-depth ratio and reinforcement ratio tested at National Taiwan University and the DYNA analysis results are used to identify the potential advantages of SC walls over RC shear walls. The baseline DYNA model is validated using data from the tests of large-scale rectangular SC wall piers. The in-plane responses of SC and RC walls including cyclic force-displacement relationship, equivalent damping ratio, peak shear strength and its corresponding drift ratio and damage to RC and SC walls are presented and discussed. The results of this study indicate that the SC walls can be considered as an efficient alternative for conventional reinforced concrete shear walls.