Experimental and numerical study on mechanical behavior of RC shear walls with precast steel-concrete composite module in nuclear power plant

Reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls with precast steel-concrete composite modular (PSCCM) are strongly recommended in the structural design of nuclear power plants due to the need for a large number of process pipeline crossings and industrial construction. However, the effect of the PSCCM on the mechanical behavior of the whole RC shear wall is still unknown and has received little attention. In this study, three 1:3 scaled specimens, one traditional shear wall specimen (TW) and two shear wall specimens with the PSCCM (PW1, PW2), were designed and investigated under cyclic loadings. The failure mode, hysteretic curve, energy dissipation, stiffness and strength degradations were then comparatively investigated to reveal the effect of the PSCCM. Furthermore, numerical models of the RC shear wall with different PSCCM distributions were analyzed. The results show that the shear wall with the PSCCM has comparable mechanical properties with the traditional shear wall, which can be further improved by adding reinforced concrete constraints on both sides of the shear wall. The accumulated energy dissipation of the PW2 is higher than that of the TW and PW1 by 98.7 % and 60.0 %. The failure of the shear wall with the PSCCM is mainly concentrated in the reinforced concrete wall below the PSCCM, while the PSCCM maintains an elastic working state as a whole. Shear walls with the PSCCM arranged in the high stress zone will have a higher load-bearing capacity and lateral stiffness, but will suffer a higher risk of failure. The PSCCM in the low stress zone is always in an elastic working state.