Title:
Impact of Bar Spacing and Steel Fiber on Out-of-Plane Response of Lightly Reinforced Concrete Walls (Prepublished)
Author(s):
Laura N. Lowes, Ray Yu, Dawn E. Lehman, Scott Campbell
Publication:
Structural Journal
Volume:
Issue:
Appears on pages(s):
Keywords:
concrete wall; fiber-reinforced concrete; finite element analysis; insulated concrete form (ICF) walls
DOI:
10.14359/51745465
Date:
12/17/2024
Abstract:
Reinforced concrete walls are used commonly in low- and mid-rise construction because they provide high strength, stiffness, and durability. In regions of low and moderate seismicity, ACI 318 Code requirements for minimum reinforcement ratio and maximum reinforcement spacing typically control over strength-based requirements. However, these requirements are not well supported by research. The current study investigates requirements for the amount and spacing of reinforcement using experimentally validated nonlinear finite element modeling. For lightly reinforced concrete walls subjected to out-of-plane loading, i) peak strength is controlled by concrete cracking, and ii) residual strength depends on the number of curtains of steel. Walls with very low steel-fiber dosages were also studied. Results show that fiber, rather than discrete bars, provides the most benefit to wall strength, with fiber-reinforced concrete walls achieving peak strengths more than twice that of identically reinforced concrete walls.