Pawar A D

Associate Professor
apawar@nicmar.ac.in

ME Civil ( Construction and Management) GCOE KARAD

Ph.D MANIT Bhopal

Cabin No 14 Old faculty block
Ground Floor
02066859167
 SHEAR WALLS
• UNDERSTANDING SHEAR WALLS
• PURPOSE OF CONSTRUCTING SHEAR WALLS
• FORCES ON SHEAR WALL
• CLASSIFICATION OF SHEAR WALLS
• TYPES OF SHEAR WALLS
•ARCHITECTURAL ASPECTS OF SHEAR WALLS
 Introduction
UNDERSTANDING SHEAR WALLS
• Shear walls are vertical elements of the horizontal force
resisting system
• Reinforced concrete (RC) buildings often have vertical plate-
like RC walls called Shear Walls in addition to slabs, beams
and columns.
• Shear walls are constructed to counter the effects of lateral
load acting on a structure
• In residential construction, shear walls are straight external
walls that typically form a box which provides all of the lateral
support for the building
• In building construction, a rigid vertical diaphragm capable
of transferring lateral forces from exterior walls, floors, and
roofs to the ground foundation in a direction parallel to their
planes.
 Introduction ( contt)
• Buildings with cast-in-situ reinforced concrete shear walls
are widespread in many earthquake-prone countries.
• This type of construction has been practiced since the
1960s in urban regions for medium- to high-rise buildings
(4 to 35 stories high).
In the last two decades, shear walls became an important
part of mid and high-rise residential buildings. As part of an
earthquake resistant building design, these walls are placed in
building plans reducing lateral displacements under
earthquake loads. So shear-wall frame structures are
obtained
• Wind results in a pressure on the surface of the
building
• Pressure increases with height
– Positive Pressure, acts towards the surface
of the building
– Negative Pressure, acts away from the
surface of the building (suction)
 PURPOSE OF CONSTRUCTING SHEAR WALLS

• Shear wall structural systems are more stable ,as their

supporting area (total cross-sectional area of all shear walls) with

reference to total plans area of building, is comparatively more,

unlike in the case of RCC framed structures

• Shear walls are not only designed to resist gravity / vertical

loads (due to its self-weight and other living / moving loads)

• They are also designed for lateral loads of earthquakes / wind

 PURPOSE OF CONSTRUCTING SHEAR WALLS .. contd
• When shear walls are designed and constructed
properly, and they will have the strength and stiffness to
resist the horizontal forces.
• Walls have to resist the uplift forces caused by the pull
of the wind. Walls have to resist the shear forces that try
to push the walls over. Walls have to resist the lateral
force of the wind that tries to push the walls in and pull
them away from the building.
• Shear walls are quick in construction, as the method
adopted to construct is concreting the members using
formwork.
• Shear walls doesn’t need any extra plastering or finishing
as the wall itself gives such a high level of precision, that
it doesn’t require plastering.
 FORCES ON SHEAR WALL
Shear wall have two types of forces
1. Shear Forces: Shear forces are generated in stationary buildings by
accelerations resulting from ground movement and by external forces
like wind and waves. This action creates shear forces throughout the
height of the wall between the top and bottom shear wall connections.

2. Uplift forces: Uplift forces exist on shear walls because the horizontal
forces are applied to the top of the wall. These uplift forces try to lift up
one end of the wall and push the other end down. In some cases, the
uplift force is large enough to tip the wall over. Uplift forces are greater
on tall short walls and less on low long walls
Geometry & Location of Shear Walls
Geometry & Location of Shear Walls
Geometry & Location of Shear Walls
 TYPES OF SHEAR WALLS

• RC Shear Wall
• Plywood Shear Wall
• Mid ply Shear Wall
• RC Hollow Concrete Block Masonry Wall
• Steel Plate Shear Wall
 Placement of Shear Walls

• Ideally, shear walls should be placed

symmetrically around the outermost walls of
buildings.
• Non-symmetric shear walls will create uneven
loadings and possible undesirable torsional
effects.
• Below are a few plans showing various
locations of shear walls for a rectangular
building
 RC Shear Wall
• It consists of reinforced concrete walls and
reinforced concrete slabs.
• Wall thickness varies from 140 mm to 500 mm,
depending on the number of stories, building age,
and thermal insulation requirements.
• In general, these walls are continuous throughout
the building height; however, some walls are
discontinued at the street front or basement level
to allow for commercial or parking spaces. Usually
the wall layout is symmetrical with respect to at
least one axis of symmetry in the plan.
RC Shear Wall
• In general, the wall reinforcement consists of
two layers of distributed reinforcement
(horizontal and vertical) throughout the wall
length.
• In addition, vertical reinforcement bars are
provided close to the door and window
openings, as well as at the wall end zones
(also known as boundary elements or
barbells).
 Plywood Shear Wall
• Plywood is the traditional material used in the
construction of Shear Walls. The creation of
prefabricated shear panels have made it possible
to inject strong shear assemblies into small walls
that fall at either side of a opening in a shear
wall.
• As well as the use of a sheet steel, and steel
backed shear panel (i.e. Sure-Board) in the place
of structural use plywood in shear walls, has
proved to be far stronger in seismic resistance
when used in shear wall assemblies.
Plywood Shear Wall
Plywood Shear Wall
 Plywood Shear Wall
• Plywood shear walls consist of:
• Plywood, to transfer shear forces
• Chords, to resist tension/compression
generated by the over turning moments
• Base connections to transfer shear to
foundations.
 MIDPLY SHEAR WALL

• The MIDPLY shear wall is an improved timber

shear wall that was developed by redesigning the
joints between sheathing and framing members,
so that the failure modes observed in standard
wall testing are virtually eliminated at lateral load
levels high enough to cause failures in standard
walls.

• In MIDPLY shear wall design, one ply of sheathing

material is placed at the center of the wall
between a series of pairs of studs oriented in a
90° rotated position relative to those in standard
shear walls
 RC HOLLOW CONCRETE BLOCK MASONRY WALLS

• RHCBM walls are constructed by reinforcing the hollow

concrete block masonry, by taking advantage of hollow
spaces and shapes of the hollow blocks. It requires
continuous steel rods (reinforcement) both in the vertical
and horizontal directions at structurally critical locations of
the wall panels, packed with the fresh grout concrete in the
hollow spaces of masonry blocks.
•Reinforced Hollow Concrete Block Masonry (RHCBM)
elements are designed both as load bearing walls for gravity
loads and also as shear walls for lateral seismic loads, to
safely with stand earthquakes.
•This structural system of construction is known as shear
wall – diaphragm concept, which gives three-dimensional
structural integrity for the buildings.
 STEEL PLATE SHEAR WALL

• In general, steel plate shear wall system

consists of a steel plate wall, boundary
columns and horizontal floor beams together,
the steel plate wall and boundary columns act
as a vertical plate girder.

• The columns act as flanges of the vertical plate

girder and the steel plate wall acts as its web.
The horizontal floor beams act, more-or-less,
as transverse stiffeners in a plate girder.
 CLASSIFICATION OF SHEAR WALLS

• Simple rectangular types and flanged walls (bar

bell type)
• Coupled shear walls
• Rigid frame shear walls
• Framed walls with in filled frames
• Column supported shear walls
• Core type shear walls
 METHODS OF DESIGN OF SHEAR WALL

There are three types of design methods

1. Segmented shear wall method
2. Force transfer –ground openings method
3.Perforated shear wall method
 Segmented shear wall method

The segmented shear wall method uses full

height shear wall segments that comply with
ratio requirements and are usually restrained
against overturning by hold down devices at the
ends of each segment.
 Force transfer –ground openings method
• This method force transfer-ground openings
consider the entire shear wall with openings
and the wall piers adjacent to openings are
segments.
• The method requires the forces around the
perimeter of the openings to be analyzed,
designed, and detailed.
• With this method, the hold-down devices
generally occur at the ends of the shear wall,
not at each wall pier, and special reinforcement
around the opening is often required.
 Perforated shear wall method
• The third and newest method is the perforated
shear wall method which is an empirical
approach that does not require special detailing
for force transfer adjacent to the openings. The
perforated shear wall method, however,
specifically requires hold-down devices at each
end of the perforated shear wall.
 Advantages of Steel Plate Shear Wall to Resist Lateral Loads

• The system, designed and detailed properly is very ductile

and has relatively large energy dissipation capability. As a
result, steel shear walls can be very efficient and
economical lateral load resisting systems.
• The steel shear wall system has relatively high initial
stiffness, thus very effective in limiting the drift.
• Compared to reinforced concrete shear walls, the steel
shear wall is much lighter which can result in less weight to
be carried by the columns and foundations as well as less
seismic load due to reduced mass of the structure.
• Compared to reinforced concrete shear walls, steel plate
shear walls can be much easier and faster to construct
when they are used in seismic retrofit of existing building.
 IS Codes for Earthquake Design
IS 1893 (Part I), 2002, Indian Standard Criteria for Earthquake Resistant
Design of Structures (5th Revision)

IS 4326, 1993, Indian Standard Code of Practice for Earthquake Resistant

Design and Construction of Buildings (2nd Revision)

IS 13827, 1993, Indian Standard Guidelines for Improving Earthquake

Resistance of Earthen Buildings

IS 13828, 1993, Indian Standard Guidelines for Improving Earthquake

Resistance of Low Strength Masonry Buildings

IS 13920, 1993, Indian Standard Code of Practice for Ductile Detailing of

Reinforced Concrete Structures Subjected to Seismic Forces

IS 13935, 1993, Indian Standard Guidelines for Repair and Seismic

Strengthening of Buildings
 Design Provisions as per IS Codes
• General requirements
1. The thickness of any part of the wall shall not be less than 100 mm
Reason : The minimum thickness is specified as 100 mm to avoid
usually thin sections. Very Thin sections are susceptible to lateral
instability in the zones where inelastic cyclic loads may have to be
sustained.
2. Shear wall shall be provided with reinforcement in the longitudinal and
transverse directions in the plane of the wall . The minimum
reinforcement ratio shall be 0.0025 of the gross sectional area in each
direction. This reinforcement shall be distributed uniformly across the
cross section of the wall.
Reason: Distribution of a minimum reinforcement uniformly across
the height & width of the wall helps to control the width of the inclined
cracks that are caused due to shear.
Design Provisions as per IS Codes
Design Provisions as per IS Codes
 Design Provisions as per IS Codes
• 3. Boundary Elements Boundary elements are portions along the wall
edges that are strengthened by longitudinal and transverse
reinforcement . Though they have same thickness as that of the wall
web, it is advantageous to provide them with greater thickness.
Reason: Wall sections having stiff and well confined boundary
elements develop substantial flexural strength are less susceptible to
lateral buckling & have better shear strength & ductility in
comparison to plane rectangular walls not having stiff & well confined
boundary elements .
4 Openings in walls : The shear strength of a wall containing openings
should be checked along critical planes that pass through openings.
Reason : An opening in a shear wall causes high shear stresses in the
region of the wall adjacent to it. Hence, it is necessary to check such
regions for adequacy of horizontal shear reinforcement in order to
prevent a diagonal tension failure due to shear.
 Design Provisions as per IS Codes
• Reinforcement shall be provided along the edges of the openings in
the walls . The area of the vertical and horizontal bars should be
such as to equal that of the respective interrupted bars. The vertical
bars should extend for the full storey height. The horizontal bars
should be provided with development length in tension beyond the
sides of the opening .
• Discontinuous Walls :
• Columns supporting discontinuous walls shall be provided with
special confining reinforcement as per IS :4326 over their full height.
The column reinforcement shall be extended into the wall for a
distance equal to the development length of the largest longitudinal
bar in the column.
• Reason : Columns supporting discontinued shear walls may be
subjected to significant axial compression and may have to undergo
extensive inelastic deformations. Hence , they have to be
adequately confined over their full length to ensure good ductility.
BEHAVIOUR OF SHEAR WALLS UNDER HIGH AXIAL LOAD RATIO

[R.K.L. Su and S.M. Wong]

Three specimens W1, W2, W3

Represent slender shear walls

Aspect ratio 4

Axial load ratios (ALR) 0.25,0.5,0.5 resp.

 lw

hw

A shear wall

hw  < 1 → Squat 
Aspect ratio = 1 − 2 → Intermediate ÷
lw 
 > 2 → Slender
÷
÷
 
 AXIAL LOAD RATIO

applied axial load

Axial load ratio = axial load capacity at a section

Pu
ALR = '
f c Ag

f c' = compressive strength of concrete

Ag = gross cross section of the wall
 TESTING METHODOLOGY

Testing rig (R.K.L. Su and S.M. Wong, 2006)

 TESTING METHODOLOGY
CONTD…

Specimens placed in a steel loading frame

Compressive axial force applied from bottom

simulated gravity load

Push and pull forces to the flange beam represented

lateral seismic loads
Testing rig and load application (Su and Wong, 2006)
 TESTING METHODOLOGY CONTD…

Specimens placed in a steel loading frame

Compressive axial force applied from bottom

simulated gravity load

Push and pull forces to the flange beam represented

lateral seismic loads
 OBSERVATIONS

 W1 exhibited flexural
ductile failure
 Cracks developed at
early stage
 Propagated inwards to
the core of the section
Failure pattern of specimen W1
(Su and Wong, 2006)
 OBSERVATIONS CONTD

W2 and W3 exhibited brittle compression failure

Spalling of concrete observed due to high ALR

Failure pattern of specimens W2 and W3

(Su and Wong, 2006)
 SUMMARY
• ALR affect failure

• High ALR has a suppressive effect on ductility

• As ALR increases energy dissipation decreases

• Axial stiffness reduces with increasing lateral

deformation
• Leads to reduction in applied axial load

• With high ALR faster and greater reduction

31
 SEISMIC PERFORMANCE OF SHEAR WALLS
(MOSOARCA MARIUS, 2013)

• To study effect of staggered openings

• 5 specimens with same amount of reinforcement

• Represented 4 storey rectangular walls

– Specimen W1 without opening

– W2,W3,W4 with staggered openings

– W5 with regular openings

 SEISMIC PERFORMANCE OF SHEAR WALLS
(MOSOARCA MARIUS, 2013)

• To study effect of staggered openings

• 5 specimens with same amount of reinforcement
• Represented 5 storey rectangular walls
– Specimen W1 without opening
– W2,W3,W4 with staggered openings
– W5 with regular openings
Wall without opening Staggered openings
 SEISMIC PERFORMANCE OF SHEAR WALLS
(MOSOARCA MARIUS, 2013)

• To study effect of staggered openings

• 5 specimens with same amount of reinforcement

• Represented 5 storey rectangular walls

– Specimen W1 without opening

– W2,W3,W4 with staggered openings

– W5 with regular openings

Wall without opening Staggered openings Regular openings
 TESTING METHODOLOGY

The test bench (Mosoarca Marius, 2013)

 OBSERVATIONS

Initial Plasticized Crushed

Model cracking concrete concrete
P (kN) P (kN) P (kN)

W1 29.33 113.63 114.43

W2 25.12 100.12 103.72
W3 25.13 88.63 92.03
W4 25.15 88.40 95.90
W5 17.7 69.70 73.80
 SUMMARY
Walls with staggered openings were more rigid
With same amount of reinforcement ductile failure
observed for staggered opening walls and brittle failure
for regular opening walls
Staggered opening walls failed at higher seismic forces
and horizontal displacements