CHAPTER-I

INTRODUCTION
Shear walls are vertical elements of the horizontal force resisting system. 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. When shear walls are designed and
constructed properly, and they will have the strength and stiffness to resist the
horizontal forces.

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. Examples are the reinforced-concrete wall or vertical truss. Lateral forces
caused by wind, earthquake, and uneven settlement loads, in addition to the weight of
structure and occupants; create powerful twisting (torsion) forces. These forces can
literally tear (shear) a building apart. Reinforcing a frame by attaching or placing a rigid
wall inside it maintains the shape of the frame and prevents rotation at the joints. Shear
walls are especially important in high-rise buildings subjected to lateral wind and
seismic forces.

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.

Shear wall buildings are usually regular in plan and in elevation. However, in some
buildings, lower floors are used for commercial purposes and the buildings are
characterized with larger plan dimensions at those floors. In other cases, there are
setbacks at higher floor levels. Shear wall buildings are commonly used for residential
purposes and can house from 100 to 500 inhabitants per building.

Shear wall are one of the excellent means of providing earthquake resistance to multi-
storeyed reinforced concrete building. The structure is still damaged due to some or the
other reason during earthquakes. Behavior of structure during earthquake motion

1
depends on distribution of weight, stiffness and strength in both horizontal and planes of
building. To reduce the effect of earthquake reinforced concrete shear walls are used in
the building. These can be used for improving seismic response of buildings. Structural
design of buildings for seismic loading is primarily concerned with structural safety
during major Earthquakes, in tall buildings, it is very important to ensure adequate
lateral stiffness to resist lateral load. The provision of shear wall in building to achieve
rigidity has been found effective and economical. When building is tall, beam, column
sizes are quite heavy and steel required is large. So, there is lot of congestion at these
joint and it is difficult to place and vibrate concrete at these place and displacement is
quite heavy. Shear walls are usually used in tall building to avoid collapse of buildings.
When shear wall is situated in advantageous position

For slender walls where the bending deformation is more, Shear wall resists the loads
due to Cantilever Action. 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. Examples are the reinforced-concrete wall. Lateral
forces caused by wind, earthquake, and uneven settlement loads, in addition to the
weight of structure and occupants; create powerful twisting (torsional) forces. This leads
to the failure of the structures by shear. Shear walls are especially important in high-
rise buildings subject to lateral wind and seismic forces. Generally, shear walls are
either plane or flanged in section, while core walls consist of channel sections. They
also provide adequate strength and stiffness to control lateral displacements. 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.

The structure is still damaged due to some or the other reason during earthquakes.
Behavior of structure during earthquake motion depends on distribution of weight,
stiffness and strength in both horizontal and planes of building. To reduce the effect of
earthquake reinforced concrete shear walls are used in the building. These can be used
for improving seismic response of buildings. Structural design of buildings for seismic

2
loading is primarily concerned with structural safety during major Earthquakes, in tall
buildings, it is very important to ensure adequate lateral stiffness to resist lateral load.
The provision of shear wall in building to achieve rigidity has been found effective and
economical. When buildings are tall, beam, column sizes are quite heavy and steel
required is large. So there is lot of congestion at these joint and it is difficult to place and
vibrate concrete at these place and displacement is quite heavy. Shear walls are usually
used in tall building to avoid collapse of buildings. When shear wall are situated in
advantageous positions in the building, they can form an efficient lateral force resisting
system. In this present paper one model for bare frame type residential building and
three models for dual type structural system are generated with the help of ETAB and
effectiveness has been checked.

1.1.History

Besides, food and clothing, shelter is a basic human need. India has been successful in
meeting the food and clothing requirements of its vast population; however the problem
of providing

Shelter of all is defying solutions. “While there has been an impressive growth in the
total housing stock from 65 million in 1947 to 187.05 million in 2001, and as estimated
that, 26million homes are required by 2012, to meet the large gap still exists between
the demand and supply of housing units. The shortage of housing is acutely felt in urban
areas .More so in the35 Indian cities, which according to the 2001 census have a
population of more than a million”.

1.2.Scope
The aim of the shear wall is to investigate the different ways in which the tall structures
can be stabilized against the effects of strong horizontal wind loading and seismic
loading.

Some other reasons why we use shear walls are tall structures can be constructed
which reduces the area used and we can accommodate a large population in that
particular area.

3
Other objective is to construct a cost effective structure in less period of time.

This study helps in the investigation of strength and ductility of walls.

The strength of shear walls tested are compared with the calculated strengths based on
design codes.

1.3.Objective
Shear walls are quick in construction, and in a country like India where shelter is very
important in a short lapse of time shear walls can be built very quickly. The precision to
which they are built is also very high compared to normally built brick structures. Hence
the key objective of shear wall is to build a safe, tall, aesthetic building.

Shear walls are not only designed to resist gravity / vertical loads (due to its self-weight
and other living / moving loads), but they are also designed for lateral loads of
earthquakes / wind. The walls are structurally integrated with roofs / floors (diaphragms)
another lateral walls running across at right angles, thereby giving the three dimensional
stability for the building structures.

Shear wall structural systems are more stable. Because, 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. 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

4
 CHAPTER-II
MATERIALS USED

2.1.CEMENT
Ordinary Portland cement of 43 grade (RAMCO) available in local market is used in the
investigation. The cement used has been tested for various proportions as per IS: 4031-
1988 and found to be conforming to various specifications of IS: 12269-1987.

The physical properties are given as under:

1. Specific Gravity 3.15

2. Normal Consistency 29%
3. Compressive Strength(28days) 52.10

5
 Fig.1.Ordinary Portland Cement 43 grade

2.2 .COARSE AGGREGATE:-

Crushed angular granite metal from a local source was used as coarse aggregate. The
coarse aggregate used in the project work are 20 mm and 10 mm grades. The physical
properties are given as under

1. Aggregate Impact Value 15.08

2. Abrasion Value 22.92%
3. Specific Gravity 2.861

Fig.2.Coarse Aggregate

2.3. FINE AGGREGATE:-

River white sand was used as fine aggregate. The fine aggregate used in the project
work is 4.75 mm down grade. The zone of sand is ZONE-III. The physical properties are
given as under

1. Specific Gravity 2.674

2. Water Absorption 1.36%

6
 Fig.3.Sand

2.4.METAL RODS
Metal rods are specially formed pieces of metal and alloy that are shaped into a rod-like
aesthetic hence the name. Metal rods are commonly used to give added support to a
range of applications such as masonry structures.

7
 Fig.4.Metal Rods

CHAPTER-III
CONCRETE
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded
together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. In the past,
lime based cement binders, such as lime putty, were often used but sometimes with
other hydraulic cements, such as a calcium aluminate cement or with Portland cement
to form Portland cement concrete (named for its visual resemblance to Portland stone).

Many other non-cementations types of concrete exist with other methods of binding
aggregate together, including asphalt concrete with a bitumen binder, which is
frequently used for road surfaces, and polymer concretes that use polymers as a binder.
Concrete is distinct from mortar. Whereas concrete is itself a building material,mortar is
a bonding agent that typically holds bricks, tiles and other masonry units together.

8
When aggregate is mixed with dry Portland cement and water, the mixture forms a fluid
slurry that is easily poured and molded into shape. The cement reacts with the water
and other ingredients to form a hard matrix that binds the materials together into a
durable stone-like material that has many uses. Often, additives (such as pozzolans or
superplasticizers) are included in the mixture to improve the physical properties of the
wet mix or the finished material. Most concrete is poured with reinforcing materials
(such as rebar) embedded to provide tensile strength, yielding reinforced concrete.

Fig.5.Concrete

CHAPTER -IV
SHEAR WALL
4.1.SHEAR WALL
Shear walls are vertical elements of the horizontal force resisting system. 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.When shear walls are designed and
constructed properly, and they will have the strength and stiffness to resist the
horizontal forces.

9
 Fig.6.Shear Wall

4.2.PURPOSE OF SHEAR WALL CONSTRUCTION

Shear walls are not only designed to resist gravity / vertical loads (due to its self-weight
and other living / moving loads), but they are also designed for lateral loads of
earthquakes / wind. The walls are structurally integrated with roofs / floors (diaphragms)
and other lateral walls running across at right angles, thereby giving the three
dimensional stability for the building structures.

Shear wall structural systems are more stable. Because, 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.

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.

10
4.3.COMPARISONS OF SHEAR WALL WITH CONSTRUCTION OF
CONVENTIONAL LOAD BEARING WALLS
Load bearing masonry is very brittle material. Due to different kinds of stresses such as
shear, tension, torsion, etc., caused by the earthquakes, the conventional unreinforced
brick masonry collapses instantly during the unpredictable and sudden earthquakes.

The RCC framed structures are slender, when compared to shear wall concept of box
like three-dimensional structures. Though it is possible to design the earthquake
resistant RCC frame, it requires extraordinary skills at design, detailing and construction
levels, which cannot be anticipated in all types of construction projects.

On the other hand even moderately designed shear wall structures not only more
stable, but also comparatively quite ductile. In safety terms it means that, during very
severe earthquakes they will not suddenly collapse causing death of people. They give
enough indicative warnings such as widening structural cracks, yielding rods, etc.,
offering most precious moments for people to run out off structures, before they totally
collapse.

For structural purposes we consider the exterior walls as the shear-resisting walls.
Forces from the ceiling and roof diaphragms make their way to the outside along
assumed paths, enter the walls, and exit at the foundation.

4.4.FORCES ON SHEAR WALL

Shear walls resist two types of forces: shear forces and uplift 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.

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. Bearing walls have less uplift
than non-bearing walls because gravity loads on shear walls help them resist uplift.

11
Shear walls need hold down devices at each end when the gravity loads cannot resist
all of the uplift. The hold down device then provides the necessary uplift resistance.

4.5. FUNCTIONS OF SHEAR WALL

Shear walls must provide the necessary lateral strength to resist horizontal earthquake
forces. When shear walls are strong enough, they will transfer these horizontal forces to
the next element in the load path below them. These other components in the load path
may be other shear walls, floors, foundation walls, slabs or footings.

Shear walls also provide lateral stiffness to prevent the roof or floor above from
excessive side-sway. When shear walls are stiff enough, they will prevent floor and roof
framing members from moving off their supports. Also, buildings that are sufficiently stiff
will usually suffer less nonstructural damage.

12
4.6.LOCATION OF SHEAR WALLS

13
Shear walls should be located on each level of the structure including the crawl space.
To form an effective box structure, equal length shear walls should be placed
symmetrically on all four exterior walls of the building. Shear walls should be added to
the building interior when the exterior walls cannot provide sufficient strength and
stiffness.

Shear walls are most efficient when they are aligned vertically and are supported on
foundation walls or footings. When exterior shear walls do not provide sufficient
strength, other parts of the building will need additional strengthening. Consider the
common case of an interior wall supported by a sub floor over a crawl space and there
is no continuous footing beneath the wall. For this wall to be used as shear wall, the sub
floor and its connections will have to be strengthened near the wall. For Retrofit work,
existing floor construction is not easily changed. That’s the reason why most retrofit
work uses walls with continuous footings underneath them as shear walls.

4.7.CLASSIFICATION OF SHEAR WALL

14
  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

4.8.METHODS OF DESIGN OF SHEAR WALL

 There are three types of design methods
 Segmented shear wall method
 Force transfer ground openings method
 Perforated 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.

15
The second method force transfer-ground openings method 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.

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.

4.9.TYPES OF SHEAR WALLS

 RC Shear Wall
 Plywood Shear Wall
 Midply Shear Wall
 RC Hollow Concrete Block Masonry Wall
 Steel Plate Shear Wall

4.9.1.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.

Floor slabs are either cast-in-situ flat slabs or less often, precast hollow-core slabs.
Buildings are supported by concrete strip or mat foundations; the latter type is common
for buildings with basements. Structural modifications are not very common in this type
of construction.

Reinforcement requirements are based on building code requirements specific for each
country. In general, the wall reinforcement consists of two layers of distributed
16
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).

Fig.7.Rc Shear Wall

4.9.2.PLYWOOD SHEAR WALL
Plywood is the traditional material used in the construction of Shear Walls. The creation
of pre-fabricated 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 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.

17
 Fig.8.Plywood Shear Wall
4.9.3.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.

18
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

Fig.9. Midply Shear Wall

4.9.4.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.

19
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.

Fig.10.RHCBM

4.9.5.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.

20
Steel plate shear wall systems have been used in recent years in highly seismic areas
to resist lateral loads. Figure shows two basic types of steel shear walls; unstiffened and
stiffened with or without openings.

21
 Fig.11.Steel Plate Shear Wall

4.10.BEHAVIOUR OF SHEAR WALL UNDER LATERAL LOADS

The shear wall along without considering the interaction of the frame can resist the
lateral loads of about 35 stories. When the number of floors is increasing shear walls
cannot resist the loads along. Further, the length and with of the shear walls also can
not be increased due to the limitations in the floor area.

In these situations, we consider the interaction of the shear wall with the frame is
considered. Reduces the lateral deflections/drift considerably. Further, it reduces the
flexural moment in the wall considerably.

Therefore, consideration of the wall frame interactions improves the performance of the
structure and it reduces the cost of the construction too.

22
 CHAPTER -V
DESIGN AND CONSIDERATION
5.1.SHEAR WALL DESIGN
Firstly it is required to calculate the different types of loads on the shear walls.

The following steps can be followed in designing the shear walls.

 Calculate the lateral loads to be applied to the structure. Lateral could be wind
loads or earthquakes loads.
 Depending on the analysis method lateral loads could be applied. If the shear
wall design is done without considering the wall frame interaction, the manual
calculation can also be used to analyze the shear walls
 In this method, the lateral load shall be applied on each wall based on their
stiffness. That means the total load shall be divided amount the walls based on
their stiffness. A computer base analysis could also be done to verify the analysis
results.
 If wall frame interaction is considered, the analysis could be done by computer-
based software. It would be more convenient than manual calculations. The
lateral load could be applied manually to the analysis model or it could be
allowed to software to generate the lateral load by itself.
 Relevant vertical loads that could be transferred from the beams and slabs
connected to the shear wall shall also be considered in the analysis.
 After doing the analysis, we can calculate the bending moment or axial stresses
at the foundation level.
 Shear walls are designed to resist the stresses of the in-plane action. Out of
plane bending is usually omitted and also the out of plane stiffness is not in the
analysis
 We calculate the stresses as indicated in the above figure. If we know the
stresses, we can calculate the required area of reinforcements as the yield
strength also known.

23
  Most of the time there will not be a requirement of providing reinforcement to
carry the tensile stress. Vertical loads applied on the wall balance the tensile
stresses due to the bending action. Further, shear walls are planed in such a way
that it has considerable axial fore for economical design.
 If the whole section is compression and it is with the allowable limit that concrete
can carry, we may only provide the minimum reinforcements. On the occasion
where the compressive stress is exceeding the acceptable limit, we could provide
reinforcements base on the requirement.
 In addition to the above, there are concerns about the slenderness of the shear
walls. Base on the lateral support, it could be checked with relevant standards.

5.2.Shear Wall Reinforcement Detailing

Most of the shear walls are detailed with the conventional method. However, when the
later lateral loads are increasing or if they are subjected to cyclic loadings, special
detailing techniques are sued.

According to the guidelines of Eurocode 2, Followings are considered in the

reinforcement detailing.

 Vertical reinforcement: 0.002 Ac (half placed in each face) and the minimum
diameter of the bar is 12mm
 Horizontal reinforcement(in each face): 25% of the vertical reinforcement or
0.001Ac whichever is greater. The minimum preferred bar diameter is one-fourth
of the vertical bar diameter.
 Links: diameter shall not be less than a quarter size of the largest compression
bar.
 Maximum area of vertical reinforcement 0.04Ac
 Minimum spacing of bars 75mm. If bar size is 40mm, spacing greater than
100mm)
 Maximum spacing of vertical and horizontal bars: the lesser of 3 times the wall
thickness or 400mm.

24
  Further, any vertical compression bar not close by a link should be within 200mm
of a restrained bar.
 Horizontal spacing: maximum spacing should not exceed twice the wall thickness

The following diagram extracted from the Standard Method of Detailing Structural
Concrete indicates typical methods that could be used when detailed drawings are
prepare

25
 CHAPTER -VI
EXPERIMENTAL METHODOLOGY AND
ANALYSIS
6.1.SHEAR WALL CONSTRUCTION
There are key things to be considered at the design stage when the shear walls design.

 The thickness of the shear wall becomes more critical where the workability of
concrete is matters. If there are no possibilities in producing good workable
concrete, the thinner concrete wall brings trouble to you.
 Further, when the thickness of the wall becomes smaller, concrete pouring is
also very difficult. Separation due to the increase of free fall height, etc. could be
expected.
 Therefore, when finalizing the thickness of the walls, attention shall be made to
the constructability.

Mostly in tall buildings, a shear wall construction is done by using the system formworks
that can be fixed and removed very easily. It saves time and costs considerably.

6.2.SEISEMIC ANALYSIS OF BUILDING WITH AND WITHOUT SHEAR

WALL
BUILDING MODAL
For the analysis 20 storey building has been considered having a height of 3m for
each story including the groundstorey. The structure modelled in symmetrical about
both the axis. The modelling has been done in accordance to IS456 and IS 1893 .The
buildings has the fixed support at the base. The buildings are modelled using software
ETAB for zone IV. Centre to centre distance between the two consecutive
columns are 4m, the columns provided is square as they resist earthquake loading

26
better. The study is carried out for the same building plan with and without shear
wall for both RCC columns and composite columns by making four different models.
Equivalent static method and response spectrum method have been used for the
analysis and analysis has been done considering the parameters like storey
displacement, storey drift, stiffness ,lateral force and base shear.

Fig.12.Buillding With And without Shear Wall

27
 Table No:1

X-axis Y-axis Regular Regular

without with shear
shear wall wall
0 0 (0,0) (0,0)
0.02 2 (0.03,1) (0.03,1)
0.04 4 (0.05,2) (0.053,3)

0.06 6 (0.58,3) (0.058,4)

0.08 8 (0.65,4) (0.059,5)
10 (0.07,5) (0.06,6)
(0.078,6) (0.06,7)
(0.079.7) (0.06,8)
(0.081,8) (0.061,9)
(0.083,9) (0.061,10)
(0.084,10) (0.061,11)
0.1 12 (0.085,11) (0.061,12)
0.12 14 (0.086,12) (0.062,13)
16 (0.087,13) (0.063,14)
(0.09,14) (0.061,15)
(0.099,15)

28
 Fig.13.Seisimic Graph
CHAPTER -VII
FAILURES OF SHEAR WALL
Knowing the structural behavior of shear walls is very important especially when we are
designing tall buildings. Shear walls become very critical elements in those buildings.
Failure of a shear wall could fail the lateral load resisting system and as a result
collapse of a structure is also possible.

Mainly there are four types of failure modes that can be identified.

1. Flexural failure
2. Horizontal tension
3. Sliding on flexural cracks
4. Sliding on construction joint

Providing adequate stiffness to the shear wall with necessary reinforcements detailed
correctly could avoid any failures.

29
30
 CHAPTER-VIII
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
8.1.ADVANTAGES

Properly designed and detailed buildings with shear walls have shown very good
performance in past earthquakes. Shear walls in high seismic regions require special
detailing. However, in past earthquakes, even buildings with sufficient amount of walls
that were not specially detailed for seismic performance (but had enough well-
distributed reinforcement) were saved from collapse. Shear wall buildings are a popular
choice in many earthquake prone countries, like Chile, New Zealand and USA.

Shear walls are easy to construct, because reinforcement detailing of walls is relatively
straight forward and therefore easily implemented at site.

Shear walls are efficient, both interims of construction cost and effectiveness in
minimizing earthquake damage in structural and nonstructural elements like glass
windows and building contents.

8.2.DISADVANTAGES
 Shear walls are difficult to construct.
 They have a flimsy appearance.
 Also, loud banging sounds associated with the buckling of web plates.
 It has low stiffness and energy dissipation capacity.
 Also, requires large moment connections.

8.3.APPLICATIONS
 Shear walls are designed to resist gravity / vertical loads and earthquake/wind
lateral loads.
 These types of walls are structurally combined with the roof or the floor.
 Other lateral walls run at right angles to provide three-dimensional stability to
structures.
 The walls have to resist uplift forces due to air drag.
31
 These walls resist the shear forces that try to push the walls up and the lateral
forces of air that push the walls in and out of the structure.
 This shear walls structural system is extra stable.
 The supporting area is comparatively high compared to RCC framed structures.

32
 CHAPTER-IX
SCOPE AND CHARACTERISTICS
Shear walls are considered to be a gift to the future construction industry.

Scope of shear walls in construction field is immense, its since their arrival in market
their topic was always a topic of interest.

 *Shear walls are the structures usually build to balance lateral loads acting on the
structure, where the lateral loads are most predominantly wind and earth quake
loads.
 *Earthquakes are becoming more intense due to the key reason that is ground
water displacement; hence in order to overcome the diverse effects of
earthquake its always best to save ourselves from future disasters.
 *Shear walls resist horizontal lateral force and provide earthquake resistance
 Shear walls are helpful in controlling deflection and RCC shear walls are easy to
construct -reinforcement detailing.
 *Shear walls minimize earthquake damage to structural damage and non-
structural damages.
 *Well-designed shear walls not only provide adequate safety but also provide
great measure of Protection against costly non-structural damage during
moderate seismic damages.
 *Shear walls in high seismic regions require special detailing. However, in past
earthquakes, even buildings with sufficient number of walls that were not
specially detailed for seismic performance (but had enough well-distributed
reinforcement) were saved from collapse.
 *Shear wall buildings are a popular choice in many earthquake prone countries,
like Chile, New Zealand and USA.
 *Shear walls are easy to construct, because reinforcement detailing of walls is
relatively straight-forward and therefore easily implemented at site.

33
  *Shear walls are efficient, both in terms of construction cost and effectiveness in
minimizing earthquake damage in structural and non-structural elements (like
glass windows and building contents).

CONCLUSION
Thus shear walls are one of the most effective building elements in resisting lateral
forces during earthquake. By constructing shear walls damages due to effect of lateral
forces due to earthquake and high winds can be minimized. Shear walls construction

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will provide larger stiffness to the buildings there by reducing the damage to structure
and its contents.

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 REFERENCE
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8. M.D. KEVADKAR, et al (8) [May-June. 2013] Lateral Load Analysis of R.C.C.
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10. P.K Parhi2, et al (10) [Jun-2017] Studied on location of shear wall in building for
structure stability. International Journal of Research in Engineering and
Technology.

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11. Ashraf Habibullah , S.E. Physical Object Based Analysis and Design Modelling
of Shear Wall Systems Using Etabs, Computers & Structures, Inc., Berkeley,
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Company(1998)

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