Reinforced concrete (RC) core walls are embedded in millions of buildings internationally and provide the resistance from wind and earthquakes.
These structural elements have the potential to bend and twist when subjected to an earthquake, which causes damage to accumulate and could result in the catastrophic collapse of the entire building.
A research program focusing on the seismic performance of RC walls was recently carried out at UCLouvain in the Institute of Mechanics, materials and Civil Engineering (iMMC). Three RC walls were tested in the laboratory using different combinations of bending and twisting.
New technologies were also used to measured important engineering parameters.
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