Solid reinforced concrete structural walls that span from the foundation to the building roof are one of the most common structural systems used to resist earthquake forces in the United States and worldwide. In many buildings, these walls surround stairs and elevators or are located at the building perimeter. Evolution in wall design and construction practices has resulted in thinner, more efficient wall geometries that are pushing the seismic performance limits of this structural system. Indeed, poor performance in some recent earthquakes and structural engineering laboratory tests demonstrate that revisions in seismic design practices now are necessary to ensure that future construction meets the high performance expectations for modern construction. This research will explore seismic design and performance limits for structural walls, considering both conventional and innovative wall construction practices. The research will investigate: (a) mechanics models to understand poor performance of conventional construction, (b) innovative yet practical new systems that can transform design practices, (c) performance-based design limits for conventional and innovative systems, and (d) international collaborative development and interpretation of shake table tests of full-scale, three-dimensional building structures. This research is a collaborative effort among researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles and University of California at Berkeley. Primary tests will be conducted at the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) facilities at the University of California at Berkeley and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In addition, the project team will collaborate with researchers from the University of Tokyo and Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, who will conduct full-scale building tests on the E-Defense shake table facility in Miki, Japan. Data from this project will be archived and made available to the public through the NEES Project Warehouse/data repository (www.nees.org).
The research program tackles an important and challenging problem that will advance discovery and understanding of one of the most common building systems used to resist earthquake forces. The results of the research will be disseminated in multiple ways: by sharing results using NEES resources, by involving earthquake professionals, and by disseminating educational materials. The results will benefit society most directly by helping define appropriate seismic design requirements for efficient and high-performance building construction. These goals will be accomplished by the active participation of the researchers with professional organizations and by utilizing an advisory board of expert engineering professionals actively involved in earthquake engineering. Graduate and undergraduate student experiences will be enhanced by active participation in research and by collaboration among the participating universities, with Japanese researchers, and interactions with design professionals. This award is part of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP).
