Experimental study on seismic performance of prefabricated thin-walled double-superimposed shear walls

To address the problems of poor pouring quality and weak bonding at the interface of double-superimposed shear walls, this paper investigates the seismic performance of a thin-walled double-superimposed shear wall structure. One cast-in-place shear wall specimen (SW) and one thin-walled double-superimposed shear wall (DW) were designed and manufactured for low-cycle reversed loading tests. The failure modes, hysteretic behavior, energy dissipation capacity, ductility, and stiffness degradation of the two specimens were compared and analyzed. The results show that both specimens experienced flexural failure. In specimen DW, the semi-embedded longitudinal reinforcement of the concealed column effectively connected with the reinforcement and work together, which verifies the feasibility of the structural design. Compared with specimen SW, specimen DW had a higher bearing capacity and reduced ductility. Its stiffness degradation showed the characteristic of “high initial stiffness-fast degradation rate”. The energy dissipation capacity of the two specimens was similar. The double-superimposed wall demonstrated performance approximately equivalent to cast-in-place, indicating it can meet the engineering requirements in seismic regions.