Ductility of reinforced concrete walls with composite cross-sections

The EN 1998-1 standard does not provide direct expressions for the ductility control of reinforced concrete walls with composite cross-sections, which complicates their design and dimensioning. In this paper, the ductility of walls with C- and T-shaped cross-sections was analyzed using SAP2000 v24.0.0. The effects of the dimensionless longitudinal force coefficient, flange confinement, the amount of compressive and tensile reinforcement, and the direction of the moment of resistance of the section were investigated. The negative impact of increasing tensile reinforcement and longitudinal force was highlighted, while confinement and increased compressive reinforcement were found to improve ductility. The maximum allowable relative compressive strain of concrete and the height of the compression zone within the cross-section were identified as key factors controlling the available ductility of the section.