Investigation of Displacement Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Shear Walls with Different Plastic Hinge Relationships

The aim of this study is to investigate the plastic hinge length and peak displacement relationship for rectangular cross-sectional high ductile concrete shear walls in seismic zones. For plastic hinge lengths related to seismic design; the conditions given in the current regulations are used in the literature. An analytical study was conducted to evaluate the peak displacement relationship of reinforced concrete shear walls in seismic loads under plastic hinge regions. The length of the plastic deformation zone called the plastic hinge length has been investigated in this study by considering the regulations proposed by different regulations and researchers. Plastic hinge lengths of the designed reinforced concrete shear walls were calculated by plastic hinge models proposed by different researchers and regulations. Then, according to the plastic hinge lengths obtained from different relations, the yield displacement and plastic displacement values of the reinforced concrete shear walls were calculated and the total peak displacement values of the shear walls were obtained. The results of this study indicated that increase in plastic hinge length has a significant effect on the displacement and displacement ductility values of reinforced concrete shear walls. The most important parameter affecting the plastic hinge length is the dimensions of the reinforced concrete shear walls.