Experimental Investigations Regarding the Ductility of Composite Shear Walls with Different Steel Encased Profiles

The ductility of a structure is evaluated by the quantity of the energy which may be dissipated through plastic deformations. The ductility concept is used in the practice of seismic resistant design and allows, depending on the used structural system, to reduce the seismic forces and to control the level of damages produced during medium and strong earthquakes. The composite steel- concrete shear walls could act as dissipating energy structural systems or as dissipating elements in dual structures. Composite steel-concrete shear walls (CSRCW) are reinforced concrete walls with additional structural steel profiles, usually located at the extremities of the cross section of the wall. An experimental program which studies the behaviour of CSRCW under combined vertical and lateral cyclic loads is in progress at the Department of Civil Engineering from Politehnica University of Timisoara. This paper presents a comparative study related to the ductility of tested elements in terms of structure ductility (displacement ductility) and energy ductility. The study shows that the structure ductility and energy ductility for CSRCW are higher than for reinforced concrete walls with the same tension capacity of the steel from the edges.