Cyclic behavior of the reinforced concrete shear walls with opening retrofitted with steel plate

The reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls are widely used as the lateral load‐resisting system due to their adequate ductility and great energy dissipation capacity. On the other hand, use of these walls can reduce the size of the beams and columns and also, decreases the lateral displacements. However, presence of the openings in the shear walls alters the behavior of the wall and therefore, the dimensions and position of the opening play a key role in the performance of this structural system. In this study, an RC shear wall with eccentric opening was verified using ABAQUS software. This model, which is called the reference model, a wall and a pier have been created according to aspect ratios given by ACI318‐14. This model was retrofitted with the steel plates arranged in various patterns and effect of each pattern on the system's performance was investigated and the best one was selected. The best steel plate arrangement increased the ultimate strength, maximum strength, cracking strength, and energy dissipation capacity by 127.3%, 13.42%, 22.53%, and 16.8%, respectively. To practically use this retrofit technique, three low, mid, and high‐rise buildings designed based on the old and new versions of the Iranian Code of Practice for Seismic Resistant Design of Buildings (Standard 2800) were upgraded with this technique and their performance was evaluated and performance of the substandard and standard buildings were compared with each other. The research results showed the ST52 steel plates do not considerably increase the maximum and cracking strength and could enhance the ultimate strength insignificantly. By retrofitting the edges of the openings by the diagonal steel plates and preventing spread of the cracks at the edges and corners, satisfactory results could be attained. Simultaneous use of the vertical and horizontal plates is an effective solution to increase the flexural and shear capacity of the structure.