Seismic behaviors of thin slender structural walls reinforced with amorphous metallic fibers

In the present study, steel reinforcement details for slender structural walls were developed, which were lighter than those required by current design codes. In the developed details, transverse re-bars at wall boundaries with a relatively wide spacing and amorphous metallic fibers (AMFs) were used. Five slender wall specimens with an aspect ratio of 2.7 were constructed and tested under cyclic lateral and constant axial loads: one of these specimens was a control specimen, which was designed in accordance with the Korean concrete design code (KCI 2012), and the other four specimens were reinforced with AMFs. Two primary parameters are the fiber volume fraction of AMFs and the spacing between the transverse re-bars; three different fiber volume fractions of 0%, 0.3%, and 0.6% and three different spacing of transverse re-bars of 60 mm, 90 mm, and 120 mm were used. The test results showed that thin slender walls reinforced with AMFs exhibited inelastic behaviors and performances similar to those of the control specimen in terms of flexural strength, drift capacity, energy dissipation, equivalent damping ratio, and strain distribution along the wall height. In particular, the walls reinforced with AMFs satisfied the drift level required for collapse prevention performance specified in ASCE 41-13. In addition, a practical analysis method evaluating the drift capacity of slender structural walls reinforced with AMFs was developed and verified by comparing its prediction with the test results.