Study on Failure Mechanism and Dynamic Response of RC Shear Wall in Tall Buildings under Impact Load

Currently, there are few studies on the impact resistance of reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls in tall buildings. To this end, the dynamic response and failure mode of RC shear walls under impact load were investigated experimentally and numerically. Six specimens were tested using a specialized pendulum impact rig. The parametric study was conducted to reveal the effects of wall height, impact position, reinforcement ratio, drop height, and energy consumption. Based on the experimental results, an analytical model is established to predict the maximum displacement under impact load. Furthermore, more parameters were quantified by the verified numerical model using LS-DYNA. The obtained results show that the drop height and reinforcement ratio have a significant effect on the peak impact force. When the impact energy is constant, the energy absorption performance of the specimen is negatively correlated to the overall wall stiffness. The parametric results of LS-DYNA show that an increment of the axial compression ratio and wall width will significantly reduce the maximum displacement at the center of the wall. When the impact energy is low, increasing the impact velocity has a more significant effect on the displacement difference than the impact mass.