Seismic Performance Evaluation of Reinforced Concrete Shear Walls with Lap Splices

Experimental results have shown that reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls with lap splices located within the plastic hinge region may not be able to sustain the significant inelastic deformations expected during design-level ground shaking. Although updates to ACI 318-19 (ACI 2019) seismic design provisions have since restricted the location of lap splices in RC walls, it is still important to identify pre-2019 RC walls with lap splice detailing that may be susceptible to undesirable seismic performance. Current ASCE 41 provisions do not provide sufficient guidance for seismic evaluation of RC walls with lap splices in the plastic hinge region. To address this gap, this study collates a data set of 28 RC walls with lap splices tested under cyclic loading. The experimental data set is analyzed to develop and validate a failure mode classification methodology and formulations for predicting ASCE 41-type nonlinear modeling parameters, i.e., deformation capacities at lateral failure, residual strength, axial failure, and residual strength ratio of RC walls with lap splices. The proposed formulations explicitly account for the influence of splice length, transverse reinforcement detailing around the splices, and neutral axis depth on the seismic performance of RC walls with lap splices. The proposed nonlinear modeling parameters are recommended for adoption in seismic evaluation guidelines.