Seismic Performance Evaluation of Concrete Shear Walls With Energy Dissipation Bands

ABSTRACT In this paper, five shear wall specimens were fabricated and tested under cyclic loading, including one conventional low‐rise shear wall, one conventional shear wall with vertical slits, two low‐rise shear walls with different amount of X‐shaped vertical steel band, and one low‐rise shear wall with X‐shaped vertical steel and lead composite energy dissipation band. The failure characteristics, hysteretic performance, strength, deformation, energy dissipation capacity, stiffness, and strain characteristics were studied. The results showed that the low‐rise shear walls with energy dissipating band exhibited a transition in failure mode from the shear failure of the conventional wall to bending failure. The strength of the shear wall with vertical energy dissipation band was increased by 20.3%, 25%, and 41.6% compared with the conventional vertical slit shear wall. The proposed shear walls with vertical energy dissipation bands exhibited stable hysteresis curves, and their ductility and energy dissipation behavior were significantly improved. The specimens with lead blocks exhibited the most significant improvement in energy dissipation capacity. Finally, an evaluation method for the ultimate strength of the shear walls with vertical energy dissipation bands was proposed and validated.