Forensic evaluation of earthquake-damaged reinforced concrete shear walls

Reinforced concrete shear walls are part of the lateral force resisting system for many low- and medium-rise buildings. Such reinforced concrete walls will likely be damaged in design basis and maximum considered earthquake shaking. Engineers tasked with evaluating an earthquake-damaged building must determine whether the lateral strength and stiffness of the building has been compromised. A structural repair may not be necessary for a damaged wall if the earthquake-induced displacements are less than the displacement associated with peak shear strength. However, there are no quantitative data in the literature that correlate crack widths and lengths, and extent of spalled concrete, with the peak shear strength of a wall. A correlation of damage observed at zero lateral loading to peak shear strength would be beneficial to the design community for informing post-earthquake repair strategies. In this paper, the damage sustained by 12 squat reinforced concrete shear due to fully reversed cyclic loading is presented, enabling the reader to judge whether peak shear strength has been achieved using crack widths and lengths, and extent of spalled concrete, measured in the post-earthquake (unloaded) condition.