Inherent ductility of non-seismically designed and detailed reinforced concrete shear walls

Large-scale reinforced concrete low-rise shear walls designed without seismic considerations, as practised in low probability of seismic occurrence regions, are tested under reversed cyclic loading. The seismic behaviour and available displacement ductility of the shear walls are investigated, and emphasis of the study is placed on the inherent ductility of the walls with different steel details and aspect ratios. Experimental results show that the inherent displacement ductility factors of 2.5 to 3 are commonly achieved with the current non-seismic design practice. By correlating the available ductility with the required ductility demands, it is concluded that an ordinary low-rise shear wall with non-seismic design and detailing may not possess the ductility to adequately respond to an unexpected moderate earthquake