Composites: Part B 44 (2013) 321329

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Composites: Part B
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Hysteretic behavior of RC shear walls strengthened with CFRP strips

Sinan Altin a, zgr Anil a,, Yagmur Kopraman a, M. Emin Kara b
a
b

Civil Eng. Dept., Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey

Civil Eng. Dept., Aksaray University, Aksaray, Turkey

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 27 December 2011
Received in revised form 1 May 2012
Accepted 5 May 2012
Available online 14 May 2012
Keywords:
A. Carbon ber
B. Debonding
C. Damage mechanics
D. Mechanical testing

a b s t r a c t
The purpose of this study was to investigate the hysteretic behavior of shear decient reinforced concrete
(RC) walls that were strengthened with carbon ber reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips. Totally, scale ve
specimens with 1.5 aspect ratio walls were constructed. One of them was tested without any retrotting
as a reference specimen and four of them were retrotted specimens with CFRP strips. All of the specimens were tested under cyclic lateral loading. CFRP strips with different congurations were tested like
X-shaped, horizontal and parallel strips or combinations of them. All of the CFRP congurations were
symmetrically bonded to both sides of the shear wall and were anchoraged to the wall. The research
focuses on the effect of using CFRP strips for enhancing strength and increasing ductility of the non-seismic detailed shear walls. Test results shows that all of the CFRP strip congurations signicantly
improves the lateral strength, energy dissipation and deformation capacity of the shear decient RC
walls. The specimen that was strengthened with X-shaped CFRP strips was failed with premature shear
failure. The specimen that was strengthened with horizontal strips was showed exural hysteretic behavior and plastic hinge was developed at the wall base. CFRP strips were controlled shear crack propagation
and resulted in improvement of displacement capacity.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In earthquake resistant design, shear walls are common lateral
load resisting systems found in many reinforced concrete (RC)
structures. Limited numbers of RC shear walls are in use at older
buildings. A number of buildings were found with walls having
cross sections with relatively small aspect ratios (h/l, h = wall
height, l = wall length), which in some cases resembled like elongated rectangular columns. These buildings survive from the earthquake with minor damages at structural framing system, but major
damages at the masonry walls [1]. Poorly designed and detailed
shear walls in these buildings that are damaged with diagonal
shear cracks, survived from the earthquake, and saved the structure. These shear crack that are observed at the shear walls are
wide enough to suggest some yielding of the reinforcements. In
addition, there are older buildings with signicantly lower quality
concrete. Although the concrete in these walls is damaged extensively, the shear walls are saved the structures and prevented collapsing. A signicant number of existing buildings are designed
such that shear walls are carried only gravity loads, and not lateral
loads. The shear walls of the numerous existing buildings have
number of design and construction detailing deciencies such as
poor or no connement of boundary element with enough rein Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 312 582 32 15; fax: +90 312 230 84 34.
E-mail address: oanil@gazi.edu.tr (. Anil).
1359-8368/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2012.05.009

forcement, poor or no bonding of the transverse reinforcement to

concrete, and inadequate shear strength for preventing development of hinging. Consequently, strengthening for improving the
shear capacity of the RC walls became more of a concern in the
area of seismic design for RC structures [1,2]. Strengthening of
the shear decient reinforced concrete walls provide an important
contribution to the improvement of seismic structural behavior.
There is a considerable increase in the strengthening of RC
structures using ber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) in the last decade, mainly due to ease of their application, high performance
against the corrosion and high strength/weight ratio. There are researches, mostly, on the RC columns strengthened by FRP jackets
[35]. However researches on the strengthening of RC walls by
FRP sheets are few in number. One of the rstly performed experimental study on the strengthening of RC walls is the application of
FRP sheets with bers to the wall sides in the vertical direction
against the cyclic shear and exure [6], and the other one is the
application of different congurations of externally bonded FRP
reinforcement to wall like columns under uni-axial compression
[6,7]. There are some other studies like the application of wing
walls to RC columns and the application of unreinforced concrete
inll walls [8,9].
Even though the strengthening of shear decient reinforced
concrete walls using FRP strips is an easily applicable and practical
technique; there is a lack of information in the literature about the
subject such as strip layout can be more effective on the hysteretic

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S. Altin et al. / Composites: Part B 44 (2013) 321329

Nomenclature

tures. The concentrated vertical reinforcement at each side of the

wall consists of ve 16 mm diameter deformed bar. The exural
capacity of the wall is increased with this technique and therefore
the need for improving the shear strength is increased as well.
The properties of specimens are given in Table 1. Specimen 1
was the reference specimen that was tested without strengthening. The other four specimens (Specimens 25) were tested after
strengthening with four different congurations of CFRP strips.
CFRP strips were symmetrically applied to both sides of the concrete wall. The detailed descriptions of applied CFRP congurations
are given in Fig. 2. A 200 mm spaced 100 mm wide lateral strips
were used for strengthening of Specimen 2. 200 mm wide CFRP
strips were applied through both diagonals of the walls of Specimen 3 in the form of X-shape. Specimen 4 was strengthened by
using both X-shaped and lateral CFRP strip combination. A
200 mm wide CFRP strips were applied both diagonally and horizontally. A 100 mm wide 5 CFRP strips were applied parallel to
each other diagonally in both directions with the addition of two
lateral strips at top and bottom of the wall of the Specimen 5.
The spacing between them was 270 mm.
All of the CFRP strips were anchoraged to the concrete wall by
fan type of anchorages. The distances between the anchorages
were 300 mm and 270 mm for lateral and diagonal strips, respec-

Section A-A

25
250

1000
250

250

50

50

50
1500
1000

25

Section B-B

250

300

300

250

50

8/12

10/100

150
100

316

216

316

400

1500

6/400

400

16/50
6/250

400

10/100

150

16/16

B
450

1000

450

500

1900
Fig. 1. Reinforcement details of test specimens (dimensions in mm).

2200

The test specimens represent the part of a shear wall of an old

existing building. Five shear decient, scaled RC wall specimens
were constructed and tested at the laboratory for investigating the
inuence of shear strengthening that were achieved by using four
different CFRP congurations on the hysteretic response of structural walls.
Dimensions and reinforcement details of the test specimens are
given at Fig. 1. All of the test specimens have the identical geometric dimensions and reinforcement patterns. Specimens consist of
three structural parts, namely, the head beam through which the
lateral loads are transferred into the wall, the panel which models
a shear wall, and the footing that are used for anchoring the specimen onto the strong oor of the laboratory. The head beam has
the cross-section of 300  300 mm. As longitudinal reinforcement,
eight 12 mm diameter deformed bars is used in the head beam. Deformed bars with a diameter of 10 mm spaced at 100 mm are used
as ties in the head beam. The base beam has the cross-section of
400  500 mm. As longitudinal reinforcement, 16 mm diameter
deformed bars are used in the base beam. Deformed bars with a
diameter of 10 mm spaced at 100 mm are used as ties in the base
beam. Wall length, height and thickness are l = 1000 mm,
h = 1500 mm, and t = 100 mm, respectively. The aspect ratio of
the wall (h/l) is 1.5. The lateral and vertical reinforcement in the
wall consist of two layers. A 6 mm diameter reinforcements are
used vertically and laterally with spacing 250 mm and 400 mm,
respectively. Vertical and lateral reinforcement ratios of the wall
are qv = 0.0183 and qh = 0.0015, respectively. In addition, each of
the lateral reinforcement in the wall is anchored by 90 hooks at
the ends of the wall and there are no boundary members at the
sides of the walls to simulate the poor details in the existing struc-

qv
qh

400

2.1. Test specimens and materials

rf
b

300

2. Experimental study

shear capacity of specimens

shear force carried with concrete
shear force carried with shear reinforcement
shear force carried with CFRP
CFRP width
CFRP strip strength
the angle between wall vertical axis and CFRP strip
bers
vertical wall reinforcement ratio
horizontal wall reinforcement ratio

1500

behavior. The main focus of the present research is the experimental analysis of the proper CFRP strip congurations for improving
the hysteretic behavior of shear decient reinforced walls under
lateral loading. The goal of the retrotting is to improve the shear
strength, ductility and energy dissipation of the poor detailed RC
walls. In the study, shear decient RC walls are strengthened by
four different congurations of CFRP strips and are tested under
cyclic lateral loading. The different congurations of CFRP strips
are cited as follows; the lateral strips, X-shaped strips, combination
of X-shaped and lateral strip, and combination X-shaped and parallel strips. The main experimental parameter studied in this research is the conguration of CFRP strips. The study focuses on
the lateral loaddisplacement behavior, strength and ductility as
well as failure modes of the RC walls strengthened using CFRP
strips.

VR
VC
VW
Vf
w

400

0.9  d: useful height of the wall

CFRP strip elastic modulus
concrete compression strength
CFRP tensile strength (MPa)
yield strength of reinforcement
failure strength of reinforcement
wall height
wall length
number of layers of CFRP strip
CFRP thickness

100

df
Ef
fC
ffu
fsy
fsu
h
l
n
tf

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S. Altin et al. / Composites: Part B 44 (2013) 321329

Table 1
Test specimens.
Specimen no.

1
2
3
4
5
a
b

(Reference)
(Strengthening)
(Strengthening)
(Strengthening)
(Strengthening)

Concrete strength
fc (MPa)

h/la ratio

15.5
15.7
15.0
15.9
15.6

1.5

Horizontal wallb reinforcement

Vertical wallb reinforcement

Longitudinal reinforcement at wall sides

Dia./Spacing
(mm)

Ratio

Dia./Spacing
(mm)

Ratio

Exterior
(number/dia.)

Interior
(number/dia.)

6/400

0.0015

6/250

0.0183

3/16

2/16

h: Wall height, l: wall length.

Double layer.

50 300

300

300 50

SG-8

200

SG-7

200

SG-6

50

900

50

50

75
225

0
20

225

SG-3

SG-4

SG-5

225
100
100

27
0

SG-4
SG-3
SG-2

SG-1

SG-2

SG-1

75

50

Specimen 2 (w=100 mm)

50 300

300

Specimen 3 (w=200 mm)

300 50

50 300

300

300 50

SG-6

100

200
200

250

0
20

225

SG-5

225

SG-8

SG-9

SG-6

SG-7

27

225

SG-4

27

225

SG-2

SG-3

10

SG-1

SG-4

SG-5

200
SG-1

Specimen 4 (w=200 mm)

SG-2

SG-3

100

Specimen 5 (w=100 mm)

Notes:
w: cfrp strip width.
This sign shows cfrp anchorage.
This sign shows strain gauge (SG).
Fig. 2. Strengthening schemes of test specimens (dimensions in mm).

tively. The photographs of fan type anchorage are presented in

Fig. 3. Fan type anchorages were made from 80 mm wide and
200 mm long CFRP strips by rolling and then 50 mm of them were
opened in the form of a fan at both ends of the roll.
All of the specimens were casted in a horizontal position on the
laboratory oor. Specimens were fabricated in two stages. In the
rst stage, RC shear wall was casted and cured 28 days. In the second stage, specimens were strengthened using CFRP. For that purpose as a rst step, the places of the CFRP strips and anchors were
marked on the specimens. Then anchorages holes with 10 mm

diameters were drilled and the wall surfaces at which CFRP strips
will be bonded were roughened for obtaining good bonding surface
for CFRP strips. Four corners of the wall were rounded to 15 mm.
Surfaces and anchorage holes were cleaned from dust by air-blowing and then epoxy was applied to the surfaces with a thickness of
1.5 mm, and injected into anchorages holes. After bonding of CFRP
strips onto walls, previously prepared fan anchorages were passed
through the holes with the help of the wires. The ends of the
anchorages were opened in the form of the fan (fan diameter
100 mm) and were bonded to both sides of the wall. All specimens

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S. Altin et al. / Composites: Part B 44 (2013) 321329

cfrp strip

rolled cfrp strip

Epoxy injected hole

(hole diameter 10 mm)

Hydraulic Load Cell

Jack
300
Hinge

Hinge

50
1500

200

Rigid
Wall

100
Specimen
Rigid Floor

50

RC Wall

400

80
Fig. 4. Test setup and instrumentation of specimen (dimensions in mm).

Fig. 3. Anchorage photo (dimensions in mm.).

were tested 15 days after the application of strengthening

schemes.
In the experimental study, specimens with low compressive
strength were constructed to represent the concrete strength of
the existing old buildings. The concrete strength of the test wall
was approximately 15 MPa on the day of testing. The average concrete strengths obtained for the Specimens are given in Table 1.
The properties of the reinforcements used in the specimens, and
the properties of CFRP and epoxy used in strengthening are listed
in Tables 2, and 3, respectively.
2.2. Instrumentation and test procedure
The test setup, loading system, and instrumentation are shown
in Fig. 4. The base of the test specimen was anchored to the laboratorys strong oor by high strength steel bolts. A steel stability
frame was constructed around the test specimen to prevent outof-plane deformations. Specimens were tested under cyclic lateral
loading. Each specimen was loaded laterally as a vertical cantilever
with forces applied through the top beam. The lateral load was created by a hydraulic jack. Magnitudes of the force were measured
by a load cell (500 kN compression500 kN tension capacities).
No axial load was applied to specimens. In the experiments, loading history was divided into two parts at both forward and back-

Table 2
Properties of reinforcements.
Reinforcement
diameter (mm)

Yield strength fsy

(MPa)

Failure strength fsu

(MPa)

Type

6
10
12
16

325
430
428
425

420
522
515
520

Plain
Deformed
Deformed
Deformed

Table 3
Properties of CFRP Sikawrap 160-C (unidirectional) and resin sikadur 330.
Properties of CFRP

Remarks of CFRP

Thickness (mm)
Tensile strength (MPa)
Elastic modulus (MPa)
Ultimate tensile strain (%)

0.12
4100
231,000
1.7%

Properties of resin

Remarks of resin

Tensile strength (MPa)

Elastic modulus (MPa)

30
3800

ward cycles. Load control was applied until reaching the exural
capacity at the rst part and then displacement control was applied. In the load controlled part, every loading cycle was repeated
three times. Tests were started by a lateral loading of 50 kN and
load was increased with loading such that it causes 50 kN shear
force increments in successive cycles. In the displacement controlled part, tests were done by 0.2% lateral drift increments. The
tests were stopped when the specimens lost their lateral load carrying capacities. During the test, the top displacements and the lateral loads applied to specimen were monitored. At the peak load
level of each half cycle, cracks were marked on the specimens. In
the instrumentation of the specimens, strain gauge based linear
variable differential transformers (LVDTs) were used for displacement measurements. Additionally, strains in the CFRP strips were
measured using strain gauge. Strain gauge locations were given
in Fig. 2.
3. Experimental results
3.1. Observed behavior of specimens
Shear force-lateral drift hysteresis curves for the test specimens
are shown in Fig. 5. As can be seen from these gures lateral displacement, lateral load carrying and energy dissipation capacities
were signicantly increased. For the strengthened specimens, the
rst exural and shear crack was observed at 2530 kN and 42
54 kN lateral loading level, respectively. The exural capacity
was reached at Specimens 2, 4, and 5 and maximum base shear
was controlled by the exure. Fan anchorages were prevented
the premature debonding of CFRP strips from the wall surfaces.
Hence, CFRP strips were controlled the widening of the shear
cracks and lateral displacement signicantly increased. Shear sliding deformation was not observed during the tests. Test results are
summarized in Table 4.
Reference Specimen 1 was failed due to premature shear failure
due to concentrated shear cracks along both of the diagonals of the
wall. The photograph of the specimen after the failure is given in
Fig. 6. Specimen 1 ultimate lateral strength was measured 149 kn
and the lateral drift was 0.65% under this loading.
Specimen 2 was reached its exural capacity and showed a ductile exural behavior. Vertical reinforcements on the wall sides of
Specimen 2 were yielded when lateral displacements reached to
0.78% and 0.86% drifts during forward and backward loading,
respectively. Measured lateral loads for these displacements were
249 kN and 242 kN during forward and backward loading, respectively. There was no decrease in the lateral load carrying capacity
during forward and backward loading up to 1.60% and 1.80% lateral

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S. Altin et al. / Composites: Part B 44 (2013) 321329

300

Specimen-1
Shear Force (kN)

200
100

0
-100
-200
-300
-3

-2

-1

Drift Ratio (%)

300

300

Specimen-2

200

Shear Force (kN)

Shear Force (kN)

200
100
0
-100

100

0
-100
-200

-200
-300
-3

Specimen-3

-2

-1

-300
-3

-2

Drift Ratio (%)

300

Specimen-5

Specimen-4
200

Shear Force (kN)

200

Shear Force (kN)

Drift Ratio (%)

300

100
0
-100
-200
-300
-3

-1

100
0
-100
-200

-2

-1

-300
-3

-2

Drift Ratio (%)

-1

Drift Ratio (%)

Fig. 5. Hysteretic curves of specimens.

drift ratio, respectively. Plastic hinge was developed at the base of

the wall. Concrete cover was crushed over the base under compression forces when 2.68% and 2.63% lateral drift ratio were reached
during forward and backward loading, respectively and the exural
shear strength of the specimen decreased almost 15%. CFRP strips
that were conned the wall were separated on the base when
2.71% lateral drift ratio was reached during backward cycle. Then
concrete was crushed at the wall corner and specimen failed. The
photograph of specimen after the failure is given in Fig. 7.
Specimen 3 was failed due to shear before reaching its exural
capacity. Shear cracks were concentrated through the diagonals of
the wall and these cracks were reached to the wall corners with the
increasing lateral load. The concrete cover was crushed at the bottom corners of the wall, when 0.86% lateral drift ratios were
reached during both forward and backward loading. The measured
ultimate lateral load was 230 kN. After this cycle, specimen was
lost its lateral load carrying capacity. Shear cracks were widened
rapidly due to separation of CFRP strips from the wall surface with

the increase in lateral drift. The concrete was crushed at the bottom corners of the wall under the compressive stresses caused
fan anchorages to be damaged. Specimen was failed due to premature shear. The photograph of the specimen after the failure is presented in Fig. 8.
Specimen 4 was reached its exural capacity. The vertical reinforcement at the wall sides were yielded when 0.82% and 0.90% lateral drift ratios were reached during forward and backward
loading, respectively. Measured lateral loads for these displacements were 247 kN and 245 kN during forward and backward
loading, respectively. Diagonal CFRP strips were debonded from
the wall surface between the anchorages with the increased lateral
drift cycles. Shear cracks were concentrated through the diagonals
of the wall. Flexural shear capacity of the specimen was decreased
in the forward and backward cycles after 1.83% and 1.71% lateral
drift ratios, respectively. The lateral CFRP strip that were conned
the wall at the base were ruptured when the drift ratio was
reached to 2.21% in the backward cycle and the specimen was lost

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S. Altin et al. / Composites: Part B 44 (2013) 321329

Table 4
Experimental results.
Spec. no.

Ultimate load (kN)

1
2
3
4
5

149
249
230
247
249

Drift ratio (%)

Ductility ratio

Ultimate

Failure

0.65
0.78
0.86
0.82
0.82

1.05
2.71
1.32
2.21
2.50

3.47

2.70
3.05

Stiffness (kN/mm)
Initial

Ultimate

47.6
57.7
56.9
55.8
56.2

18.2
19.2
15.5
18.2
18.3

Failure mechanism

Shear
Flexure
Shear
FlexureShear
FlexureShear

Fig. 8. Specimen 3 after failure.

Fig. 6. Specimen 1 after failure.

Fig. 9. Specimen 4 after failure.

Fig. 7. Specimen 2 after failure.

its lateral load carrying capacity. Then Specimen 4 was failed with
shear failure. The photograph of the specimen after failure is given
in Fig. 9.
Specimen 5 was reached its exural capacity. The vertical reinforcement at the wall sides were yielded when 0.82% and 0.84% lateral drift ratios were reached in the forward and backward cycles,
respectively. Measured lateral loads for these displacements were
249 kN and 246 kN during forward and backward loading, respectively. No decrease was observed in the exural shear strength in

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S. Altin et al. / Composites: Part B 44 (2013) 321329

the forward and backward cycle up to 1.24% and 1.51% lateral drift
ratio, respectively. CFRP strips were debonded from the wall surface. Decrease in the lateral load carrying capacity of the Specimen
was very small up to lateral displacement ratio of 2.0%. In the cycle
after this lateral drift ratio, the bers of CFRP strips were torn off
and the lateral strength of the specimen was decreased almost
15%. The CFRP strips were ruptured at the lateral drift ratio of
2.5%, and the lateral load carrying capacity suddenly decreased.
Specimen was collapsed with the shear failure. The photograph
of specimen after failure is presented in Fig. 10.
The typical examples of strain measurements taken from the
CFRP strips during the tests are given in Fig. 11. The mean of the
maximum strains that were measured from lateral strips was
0.0090 mm/mm for the Specimen 2. The measured maximum
strains from the diagonal CFRP strips were 0.00748 mm/mm and
0.00840 mm/mm for the Specimens 3 and 4, respectively. The
measured maximum strain was 0.00813 mm/mm for the Specimen
5. Deformations and shear cracks that were developed on the wall
were caused debonding of CFRP from the wall surface. The debonded CFRP bers were remained under the inuence of combined
stresses along with the tensile stresses and therefore this combined stress were caused ber ruptures before reaching the ultimate strain.
4. Discussion of test results
4.1. Strength and stiffness of the specimens

teristics of the specimens and also their general behaviors. Lateral

strengths of all strengthened specimens were signicantly increased compared to the reference specimen. Ultimate exural
shear strengths of the strengthened specimens were 1.541.67
times greater than that of the reference specimen. The strengthened Specimens 2, 4 and 5 were reached the exural capacity with
almost the same lateral stiffness and were showed a ductile behavior. A Specimen 3 displacement capacity was remained restricted
due to premature shear failure. After reaching the 18% (on the
average) of the nominal exural strength, the lateral stiffness
was decreased at the specimens. However, CFRP strips were restricted the widening of shear cracks on the wall. Even though
the similar strengthening congurations were used at Specimens
3 and 4, they were showed completely different hysteretic lateral
behavior than each other. Specimen 4s wall lateral displacement
was signicantly increased due to the increase in concrete ultimate
strain at the lower and upper parts of the wall under compression
forces.
ACI 440 Code has been used for calculation [10]. Shear strength
of the wall should be greater than exural shear strength for
obtaining the ductile exural behavior at the shear decient shear
wall. The shear strengths of the specimens were computed by
using Eqs. (1)(3). The maximum strain of CFRP was taken as
0.004 mm/mm. The calculated shear strengths of the specimens
and experimental ultimate shear strengths values were given at
Table 5.

VR VC VW Vf

1
2

Response envelopes for specimens shown in Fig. 12 are plotted

by connecting the peak points of the base shear-top story displacement hysteretic curves for each specimen. Response envelope
curves can be used for evaluating the strength and stiffness charac-

V f 2  n  t f  rf  df  1 cot b sin b kN
rf 0:004  Ef 6 0:75  ffu

2
3

As stipulated in the design, the calculated average shear strengths

of the strengthened specimens were 22% greater than the measured
ultimate shear strength values during the tests.
The lateral stiffnesses of test specimens were given at Table 4.
The initial tangent and secant stiffnesses at the ultimate load were
listed at this table for each specimen. Initial stiffness was dened
as the initial slope of load displacement curve of the rst forward
half cycle. The stiffness at the ultimate load was dened as the
average of the slopes of linear lines connecting the ultimate loads
with the origin of load displacement curves in the forward and
backward half cycles. The initial stiffness of the reference specimen
was 47.6 kN/mm. The initial stiffnesses that were measured for the
strengthened specimens were obtained slightly greater than the
reference specimen. The average of strengthened specimens initial
stiffnesses was 56.7 kN/mm. Shear cracks were caused signicant
drop at the lateral stiffnesses. The average of measured lateral stiffnesses of the specimens was 17.9 kN/mm at the ultimate load. At
the ultimate load, the averages of initial stiffnesses were decreased
106%.
4.2. Ductility and energy dissipation capacities of specimens

Fig. 10. Specimen 5 after failure.

Specimens 1 and 3 were showed non-ductile, Specimen 2, 4 and

5 were showed ductile hysteretic behaviors. The ductility ratios of
the specimens were calculated by using the ratio of lateral displacement that are measured at the rst yielding of vertical reinforcements of wall side to the displacement that are measured at
the point where the ultimate exural shear capacity decreased to
85%. Ductility ratios were measured as 3.47, 2.70, and 3.05 for
the Specimens 2, 4 and 5, respectively.
The area under the hysteresis loops can be used as a measure of
the energy dissipation capacities. Energy dissipations capacities
were determined by calculating the areas inside the hysteretic
loaddisplacement curves for each of the specimens. The cumulative energy dissipation capacities were dened as the sum of the

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S. Altin et al. / Composites: Part B 44 (2013) 321329

Strain (mm/mm)
0
300

0.002

0.004

0.006

Strain (mm/mm)
0.008

0.01

0
300

0.002

Shear Force (kN)

Shear Force (kN)

0
-100
-200
-300

0
-100
-200

Specimen-2
0

2000

4000

6000

8000

-300

10000

Specimen-3
2000

0.002

0.004

4000

6000

8000

10000

0.008

0.01

Strain (mv)

Strain (mm/mm)
0.006

Strain (mm/mm)
0.008

0.01

300

SG-1

0.002

0.004

0.006

SG-2

200

Shear Force (kN)

200

100
0
-100

100
0
-100

-200

-200

Specimen-4
-300

0.01

100

Strain (mv)

Shear Force (kN)

0.008

200

100

300

0.006

SG-2

SG-1
200

0.004

2000

4000

6000

8000

Specimen-5

10000

2000

Strain (mv)

4000

6000

8000

10000

Strain (mv)

Fig. 11. Strain-shear force graphs examples.

Table 5
Comparison of experimental and analytical results.

300
Spec-2

200

100

Spec-4

Spec-5

Spec-1

0
a
b

-100

Specimen-1
Specimen-2
Specimen-3
Specimen-4
Specimen-5

-200

-300
-3

-2

-1

Experimental capacity
(kN)

Calculated analytical
capacity (kN)a

Ratiob

1
2
3
4
5

149
249
230
247
249

152.00
328.68
289.80
308.75
313.74

0.98
0.76
0.79
0.80
0.79

ACI 440 regulations is used for analytical calculations.

Ratio of experimental capacity to analytical capacity values.

14000

Drift Ratio (%)

Fig. 12. Response envelopes of specimens.

area enclosed by all hysteresis loops. Normalized parameters were

used for comparing the hysteretic characteristics of the specimens,
because the amplitudes of the imposed displacements were not the
same for loading cycles of ve specimens. Energy dissipation values were plotted against the corresponding normalized cumulative
displacement values. Cumulative displacement values were calculated by successive summation of peak displacements. These values were later normalized by the measured yield displacements.
Due to shear dominant behavior of the reference Specimens 1

Cumulative Energy Dissipation

Capacity (kN-mm)

Shear Force (kN)

Spec-3

Specimen
no.

12000
10000
8000
6000
Specimen-1

4000

Specimen-2
Specimen-3

2000

Specimen-4
Specimen-5

10

15

20

Cumulative Displacement Ductility Ratio (mm/mm)

Fig. 13. Cumulative energy dissipation capacity of specimens.

S. Altin et al. / Composites: Part B 44 (2013) 321329

and 3, the displacements at the ultimate loads were considered as

yield displacements. Fig. 13 shows the variation of cumulative energy dissipation characteristics of the test specimens. Energy dissipation of the strengthened specimens was signicantly larger than
the reference specimen. The ratio of energy dissipation capacities
of strengthened specimen to that of reference specimen changes
in between 2.69 and 5.15. Among the strengthened specimens,
the lowest energy dissipation capacity belongs to Specimen 3,
and largest energy dissipation capacity belongs to Specimen 2.
Specimens 4 and 5 consumes almost the same amount of energy.
The ratio of energy dissipation capacity of Specimens 4 and 5 to
that of the reference specimen is 4.34 on the average.
5. Conclusions
In this study, the hysteretic behaviors of strengthened shear
decient reinforced concrete walls by CFRP strips under the lateral
loading are experimentally investigated. Five scaled specimens
were tested under cyclic lateral loading. One of them was the reference specimen, and the others were strengthened by using four
different CFRP strip congurations, namely, the lateral strip, Xshaped diagonal strips, X-shaped diagonal and lateral strip combination, X-shaped parallel strips. The research focuses on the effect
of using CFRP strips on lateral strength and ductility of the nonseismic RC shear walls. From this study, the followings were
concluded:

329

5. The strengthened specimens are dissipated much more energy

than the reference specimen. The ratio of energy dissipation
of strengthened specimens to that of the reference specimen
has been changing in between 2.69 and 5.15.
6. Fan anchorages are prevented the debonding of the CFRP strips
from the reinforced concrete wall. As a result of prevention of
debonding of CFRP strips totally by the anchorages, the tensile
forces of the strips are provided the load carrying capacities
to continue till reaching considerable lateral displacements.
The maximum strains are measured on CFRP strips were
0.0080.009 mm/mm.
7. While making the strengthening design, it is suggested that the
specimen shear strength should be greater than the exural
shear strength. ACI-440 code has been applied for the computations. The computed average ultimate shear strengths of the
specimens have been obtained 22% greater than the ultimate
shear strength of the specimens measured in the tests.

Acknowledgments
This study was conducted at the Structural Mechanics Laboratory of Gazi University. The research supported by the Scientic
and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) through Research Grand 109M397 is gratefully acknowledged.
References

1. The strengthening of shear decient reinforced concrete walls

by using CFRP strips was an effective technique. Usage of CFRP
strips signicantly improves the hysteretic behavior of shear
decient reinforced concrete walls under the cyclic lateral
loading.
2. The strip congurations were effective on the hysteretic behavior of strengthened wall and failure mode. The best performance for the improvement of lateral displacement capacity
and lateral strength of shear decient RC walls has been
obtained from the strengthening with lateral strips. The wall
strengthened by lateral strips is showed a ductile exural hysteretic behavior and at the base of the wall plastic hinge has
been developed. Although the X-shaped strips is increased the
wall shear strength, they are not enough to reach the exural
capacity. In the walls strengthened by X-shaped and lateral
strip combination, and X-shaped parallel strips, exural capacity has been reached.
3. CFRP strips are not effective on improving the initial lateral
stiffness of the specimens. However, restriction of the widening
of shear cracks are developed on the wall by the CFRP strips are
controlled the decrease in the lateral stiffness. Except the Specimen 3, all other strengthened specimens are reached exural
capacity with almost the same lateral stiffness.
4. Specimens that are strengthened by lateral and X-shaped CFRP
strips (Specimens 2 and 5), a signicant decrease in the exural
strength of the specimen has not been observed till 2.0% lateral
drift. The displacement capacities of the specimens have been
improved by the applied strengthening technique without causing any signicant decrease in their load carrying capacities.

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