Experimental study on seismic performance of composite shear walls with end columns

Three new partially encased composite shear walls (NPECSWs) were designed with the thickness of the main steel members and the quantity of the stiffening ribs as parameters, and pseudostatic tests were carried out. The tests revealed that all the specimens exhibited compression–bending damage, which were consistent with the digital image correlation analysis results. Compared with increasing the number of stiffening ribs, increasing the thickness of the main steel members has a greater effect on the energy dissipation, viscous damping coefficient, ductility, and shear resistance. Increasing the number of stiffening ribs makes the effect of reducing the degrading stiffness more obvious. The calculation formulas for the shear resistance were established, and the errors were within 10 %. Based on the fourfold line skeleton model and unloading stiffness, a restoring force model was established. The finite element analyses were carried out for in-depth analysis. It indicated that increasing the thickness of the main steel members could reduce the yield range, and increasing the number of stiffening ribs makes the stress distribution more uniform after damage. •A new type of composite shear wall structure with end columns is proposed.•The seismic performance of shear walls is analysed by the pseudostatic experiment.•The number of stiffening ribs affects seismic performance more significantly.•The formulas for calculating the bearing capacity of the shear wall are proposed.•A restoring force model suitable for the shear wall structure is established.