Evaluation of seismic behavior improvement in RC MRFs retrofitted by controlled rocking wall systems

SUMMARY Using rocking wall systems is a recent technique to improve seismic behavior in reinforced concrete structures. This paper compares three 10‐story and three 20‐story reinforced concrete frames (moment‐resisting frames) with intermediate ductility, reinforced concrete frames with shear wall, and reinforced concrete frames with controlled rocking wall (RCRW) by the use of pushover analysis. At the end of the research, the wall in a 20‐story RCRW system is post‐tensioned then analyzed, and its results were compared with RCRW results. Simulation and numerical analysis were performed with OpenSees software. The results show that plastic hinge formation and inter‐story drifts are well distributed in the structure with rocking wall system in comparison with the other systems. Meanwhile, energy dissipation and displacement ductility are increased in RCRW frames. With post‐tensioning wall in RCRW, the drift ratios are more uniformed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.