Seismic behavior of high strength concrete composite walls with embedded steel truss

•A new type of steel-concrete composite wall is introduced.•A thorough study on the seismic behavior of the new composite wall system is conducted.•Finite element modeling techniques are suggested and verified.•Impacts of key design parameters are evaluated.

Experimental investigation was conducted on three 1:3 scaled high strength concrete composite wall (HSCCW) specimens with embedded steel truss with a medium aspect ratio (1.0–3.0) under cyclic load reversals and constant axial load, to examine the influences of steel usages of embedded truss chord and web brace on the overall seismic behavior of the specimens. The hysteretic characteristics, cracking pattern, failure modes and energy dissipation capacities of the specimens were discussed. Then parametric analysis was carried out on 27 numerical models based on verified finite element modeling techniques to thoroughly evaluate the influences of axial load ratio, steel ratio of embedded truss chord and volumetric ratio of embedded truss web brace on the overall seismic performance of HSCCW with embedded steel truss. Research results indicate that increasing the steel ratio of embedded truss chord can effectively improve the initial stiffness and lateral load carrying capacity. Although the volumetric ratio of embedded truss web brace has little influence on lateral strength, it is beneficial to the energy dissipation capacity of composite walls. Within the maximum allowable limit, higher axial load ratio can result in increased lateral load capacity and stiffness.