Load capacity of slender high-strength concrete walls with side supports

Reinforced concrete walls simply supported along side edges and subjected t o eccentric loading are tested and evaluated in this paper. The supports on the side edges force the walls to maintain zero de;flection along the side edges. The paper reports test results of eight high-strength concrete wall s of 2 m (6.56 ft) long, 1.5 m (4.92 ft) wide, and 50 mm (1.95 in.) thick. The test parameters investigated are reinforcement ratios of 0.85 and 1.69 percent, eccentricities of 25 and 8 mm (0.984 and 0.312 mm), and concrete c ompressive strengths varying from 50 to 96 MPa (7250 to 13,920 psi). Typica l crack patterns of the specimens,failure modes, and load-deflection charac teristics are reported The failure modes are similar to the classical two-w ay buckling of plates, but the walls also exhibited a torsional failure mod e near the corners. Comparison of the test results with estimations based o n previous research work are also presented. The test results presented wil l be useful in calibrating and refining analytical models.