FINITE ELEMENT MODELING OF RC SHEAR WALLS STRENGTHENED WITH CFRP SUBJECTED TO CYCLIC LOADING

Abstract

Summary:

Reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls are considered as the main lateral force resisting system which are used in many RC structures. Many factors influence on the seismic performance and ductility of a RC shear wall. Several retrofitting schemes are founded to improve seismic behavior for shear walls in terms of the overall strength, stiffness and ductility. Among these, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials is considered as an essential material for strengthening of existing RC structures. This thesis presents a study for the behavior of RC shear walls strengthened with CFRP subjected to cyclic loading using ANSYS program software. The finite element (FE) results are validated using experimental results available in the literature. The parameters considered in this study involves the effect of changing concrete compressive strength, thickness of FRP sheets, number of FRP layers and position of FRP sheets. An extensive parametric study was conducted to investigate the effect of different parameters on the capacity, deflection, crack pattern and mode of failure. The results showed that using FRP sheets enhances the behavior of the shear wall when exposed to cyclic loading. It was concluded also that, the number of FRP layers and its thickness have a great effect on the behavior of the RC shear wall.