Experimental and Numerical Study of the Behavior of RC Shear Wall with Opening Using Concealed Stiffeners

A shear wall becomes weak when an opening is provided in it. It is important to provide some arrangement in the shear wall having an opening for recovering strength loss due to the opening. It may be recovered by providing some steel profiles around the opening or at weaker sections in the shear wall having an opening. At first, the identification of weaker sections in the shear wall having an opening is important and then, the wall can be made stronger as the shear wall without an opening by strengthening weaker sections. In the present study, the performance of a shear wall having an opening subjected to horizontal cyclic loading along the plane of the shear wall in the presence of concealed stiffeners is investigated. The reduced models of shear walls with openings were tested under axial and lateral load conditions. Load-carrying capacity, deformation behavior and strain behavior of shear walls were studied with experiments and the validation of the results was made with general-purpose finite element software ANSYS. Significant improvements were observed in strength, deformation and strain behavior of a shear wall having a central opening using concealed reinforced concrete (RC) stiffeners and steel tube stiffeners. KEYWORDS: Shear wall, Strength, Stiffness, Strain, Openings, Stiffeners.