Experimental Study on Composite Structural Walls with Steel Hysteretic Dampers

This paper reports on a research project aimed at investigating a dual system composed of moment- resisting open frames and a new type of composite walls. The features of the proposed walls are; 1) damage deduction of the wall panels and 2) large energy dissipation capacity. The former is introduced by providing the horizontal clearance between a foundation and wall panels except for the location of the edge columns. This device avoids the sever damage which is seen at the end of conventional walls. The latter is introduced by the steel coupling girders which are spanned narrowly between two wall panels. Mechanical behavior of the new type of wall system is investigated through a series of cyclic loading tests of two three-story specimens. The experimental results show that wall specimens designed appropriately behave in a ductile manner and have very large energy absorption capacity available even in small story drifts.