Failure Mechanism and Behavior of Thin-walled Reinforced Concrete Barrels under Lateral Loading

摘要

This paper presents the failure mechanism and behavior of short thin-walled RC tubular cylinders subjected to lateral loading. Five cylindrical specimens were cast and tested. The prototype barrels were 5.4 m in diameter, 35.6 cm thick, and fixed to a massive concrete footing at the bottom and to a 76.2 cm thick slab at the top. These dimensions were scaled down accordingly to 1/10. Height-to-diameter ratios, the percentage of steel reinforcement, and the wall opening were chosen as study parameters. The structural evaluation was helpful in determining the bending and shear behavior of closed RC tubular walls, as well as the behavior of the specimen with the wall opening. The short specimen sustained more load to failure. The longer specimens deflected more in terms of their ultimate load with the exception of the specimen with the least amount of reinforcement. Shear cracking started at approximately the same locations for the closed specimens, i.e., a shear crack at an angle of approximately 45°, however, this behavior was somewhat different for the specimen with an open wall as the first shear crack appeared at the corners of the opening. In comparing the results obtained from the testing and nonlinear finite element analysis (NFEA), the NFEA predicted satisfactory results.