Experimental research on seismic performance of bottom-frame diagonal-grid composite walls

Base on the quasi-static contrast tests of a 1 /2 scaled bottom-frame diagonal-grid composite wall and an original bottom-frame multi-grid composite wall,which were in the same size and scale,loading displacement curves characteristic and failure process of the specimens were analyzed. The seismic performance including hysteretic curves, skeleton curves,bearing capacity,stiffness degradation,energy-dissipating capacity,ductility and strain-load curves of steel bars were investigated. The test results indicate that the bottom-frame diagonal-grid composite wall has good capability of interoperability and shows advantages of multiple lateral force resisting systems. It is also found that the bearing capacity of the bottom-frame diagonal-grid composite wall is 20% higher than that of the normal bottom-frame multi-grid composite wall. Moreover,the stiffness and energy-dissipating capacities are increased by about 10% and 30%. At the same time,the ductility coefficient has a 12% decrease because of the existence of the diagonal-grid.