Following the recent earthquakes in Chile (2010) and New Zealand (2010/2011), peculiar failure modes were observed in Reinforced Concrete (RC) walls. These observations have raised a global concern on the contribution of bi-directional loading to these failure mechanisms. One of the failure modes that could potentially result from bidirectional excitations is out-of-plane shear failure. In this paper an overview of the recent experimental and numerical findings regarding out-of-plane shear failure in RC walls are presented. The numerical study presents the Finite Element (FE) simulation of wall D5-6 from the Grand Chancellor Hotel that failed in shear in the out-of-plane direction in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. The main objective of the numerical study was to investigate the reasons for this failure mode. The experimental campaign includes the recent experiments conducted in the Structural Engineering Laboratory of the University of Canterbury. The experimental study included three rectangular slender RC walls designed based on NZS3101: 2006-A3 (2017) for three different ductility levels, namely: nominally ductile, limited ductile and ductile. The numerical results showed that high axial load combined with bi-directional loading caused the out-of-plane shear failure in wall D5-6 from the Grand Chancellor Hotel. This was also confirmed and further investigated in the experimental phase of the study.
A photograph of a damaged building on Norwich Quay in Lyttelton. The temporary wooden wall at the front of the building has been painted to look like a Christmas present. A sign has been placed on the wall and reads, "All I want for Christmas is an answer from EQC!
A photograph of the earthquake damage to Knox Church on the corner of Bealey Avenue and Victoria Street. The upper section of the walls have crumbled, the bricks falling onto the footpath. USAR codes have been spray-painted on the lower section of the wall.
A photograph of an earthquake-damaged house in Christchurch. The house has moved off its foundations and many of the walls have crumbled, the bricks spilling onto the street in front. Messages such as "Clear" and "Danger keep out" have been spray-painted on the foundation wall.
A photograph of an earthquake-damaged house in Christchurch. The house has moved off its foundations and many of the walls have crumbled, the bricks spilling onto the street in front. Messages such as "Clear" and "Danger keep out" have been spray-painted on the foundation wall.
A photograph of an earthquake-damaged house in Christchurch. The house has moved off its foundations and many of the walls have crumbled, the bricks spilling onto the street in front. Messages such as "Clear" and "Danger keep out" have been spray-painted on the foundation wall.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the Knox Church on the corner of Bealey Avenue and Victoria Street. The gable wall has crumbled, and the bricks have spilt onto the footpath in front. USAR codes have been spray painted on the walls.
A photograph of a section of a piece of street art on the wall of a building between Brighton Mall and Hawke Street. In this section, the artist has painted an alcove in the wall to look like a fireplace.
A photograph of a detail of the front of Christ Church Cathedral. A stained-glass window remains intact despite the collapsed stonework that surrounds it. The upper part of the front wall has crumbled. Steel bracing has been placed against the wall to limit further damage.
Damage to a house in Richmond. Bricks have fallen from a wall, and there is a visible gap between the foundation and the surrounding ground. The photographer comments, "The foundation and a section of the wall of the dining room have shifted and cracked. The dining room floor is very springy".
A photograph of a collapsed brick wall resting against a tree.
A photograph of a concrete wall with steel reinforcement visible inside
A photograph of earthquake damage to a wall in a stairwell.
A photograph of a concrete wall with steel reinforcement visible inside
A photograph of a damaged wall outside the Hotel Grand Chancellor.
A photograph of a cracked wall inside the Hotel Grand Chancellor.
Cracks in a wall of the National Library on Salisbury Street.
Cracks in a wall of the National Library on Salisbury Street.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Knox Church, Victoria Street wall".
A photograph captioned by Paul Corliss, "Great Wall of Sumner containers".
A photograph showing the cross-section of a double brick wall.
A photograph of street art on a wall near Brighton Mall.
A photograph of details in a wall of the Cranmer Courts.
Volunteers adding shelves to the Pallet Pavilion walls for potted plants.
A photograph captioned by Paul Corliss, "Great Wall of Sumner containers".
A damaged brick building, the side wall of which has collapsed.
Spray-painted message on a fence reading "Stay clear wall unsafe".
Graffiti on a wall exposed after demolition of the adjoining building.
Do not demo" spray-painted on the wall of a building.
A photograph captioned by Paul Corliss, "Great Wall of Sumner containers".