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Lecture

Failure Mechanisms in RC Walls

In course

CIVIL-522: Seismic engineering

This course deals with the main aspects of seismic design and assessment of buildings including conceptual design. It covers different structural design and evaluation philosophies for new and existing reinforced concrete, steel and unreinforced masonry bu ...

Description

This lecture covers the brittle mechanism and flexural failure in RC walls, lap splice failure, plastic hinge analysis, stress-strain relationships of concrete and steel, confinement of concrete, and reinforcement steel behavior under cyclic loading. It also explains the mechanics behind confinement in concrete and the development of micro-cracks in reinforcing bars.

Instructors (4)

Dimitrios Lignos

Prof. Lignos joined the École Polytechnique Féderale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2016 from McGill University in Canada where he was a tenured Associate Professor and a William Dawson Scholar for Infrastructure Resilience. He holds a diploma (National Technical University of Athens, NTUA, 2003), M.S. (Stanford University, 2004) and Ph.D. (Stanford University, 2008). In addition, he was a post-doctoral scientist at Stanford University (2009) and in Kyoto University (2010). Prof. Lignos teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in seismic design, nonlinear behaviour of steel and composite structures as well as supplemental damping systems, Structural Stability, Nonlinear Analysis and Performance-based Earthquake Engineering. His awards for teaching, research and service in Civil Engineering include the 2011 Outstanding Teaching Award (Faculty of Engineering, McGill University), as well as the Outstanding reviewer (2012, 2013) award from ASCE, the 2013 State-of-the-Art in Civil Engineering Award by ASCE and the 2014 Christophe Pierre Award for Research Excellence - Early Career. Just recently, he received the 2019 Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from ASCE for significant contributions in developing state of the art methods to simulate extreme limit states in steel structures.Prof. Lignos is a member of ASCE and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. He acts as an Associate Editor for Metal Structures and Seismic Effects of the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering. He joined the Editorial Board of Earthquake Spectra and Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics International journals. He serves as an acting member of the CEN/TC 250/SC 8/WG 2 and has been selected as a member of the Project Team (PT2) for the Eurocode 8-Part 1 Current Revisions for Steel and Composite Structures. He is also a member of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) S16 technical committee for Steel Structures. Prof. Lignos is involved as a NEHRP consultant in numerous research-to-practice projects related to the behaviour and nonlinear modelling and analysis of structures applicable to the engineering practice through the Applied Technology Council (ATC). Detailed Curriculum Vitae (last update September 2018)

Katrin Beyer

Since 2017 Associate Professor, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC), EPFL. Head of the Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics (EESD) Laboratory 2010-2017 Assistant Professor, EPFL. 2008-2010 Post-doctoral researcher, ETH Zürich. 2003-2007 Ph.D., Roseschool / Università di Pavia, Italy. 2001-2003 Ove Arup & Partners, Advanced Technology and Research Group, London. 2001 Diploma, Civil engineering, ETH Zürich.

Official source

Related concepts (21)

Reinforced concrete

Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ductility. The reinforcement is usually, though not necessarily, steel bars (rebar) and is usually embedded passively in the concrete before the concrete sets. However, post-tensioning is also employed as a technique to reinforce the concrete. In terms of volume used annually, it is one of the most common engineering materials.

Concrete

Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement that cures over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most widely used building material. Its usage worldwide, ton for ton, is twice that of steel, wood, plastics, and aluminium combined. When aggregate is mixed with dry Portland cement and water, the mixture forms a fluid slurry that is easily poured and molded into shape.

Rebar

Rebar (short for reinforcing bar), known when massed as reinforcing steel or reinforcement steel, is a steel bar used as a tension device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid the concrete under tension. Concrete is strong under compression, but has low tensile strength. Rebar significantly increases the tensile strength of the structure. Rebar's surface features a continuous series of ribs, lugs or indentations to promote a better bond with the concrete and reduce the risk of slippage.

Prestressed concrete

Prestressed concrete is a form of concrete used in construction. It is substantially "prestressed" (compressed) during production, in a manner that strengthens it against tensile forces which will exist when in service. This compression is produced by the tensioning of high-strength "tendons" located within or adjacent to the concrete and is done to improve the performance of the concrete in service. Tendons may consist of single wires, multi-wire strands or threaded bars that are most commonly made from high-tensile steels, carbon fiber or aramid fiber.

Failure cause

Failure causes are defects in design, process, quality, or part application, which are the underlying cause of a failure or which initiate a process which leads to failure. Where failure depends on the user of the product or process, then human error must be considered. A part failure mode is the way in which a component failed "functionally" on the component level. Often a part has only a few failure modes. For example, a relay may fail to open or close contacts on demand.

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Failure Mechanisms of RC Walls: Ductile vs. Brittle

Explores the ductile and brittle failure modes of RC walls under seismic loads.

Steel buildings: Seismic Design

Explores seismic design in steel buildings, covering failure modes, behaviour of materials, and innovative structural solutions.

Plastic Hinge Method: Analysis and Design

Explores the plastic hinge method for inelastic deformation estimation and discusses the challenges of force-based design.

Reinforced Concrete Walls: Failure Mechanisms and Seismic Engineering

Explores the failure mechanisms of reinforced concrete walls and seismic engineering concepts.

Seismic Behaviour of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings