CIV419

Computer-aided Structural Engineering

Design of Shear Walls

Prof. Osama Ahmed Mohamed, Ph.D., P.E., MASCE

Types of walls.
• Bearing walls are used
primarily to support
gravity loads in buildings.
• Design of bearing walls
normally follows ACI318-
14 section 11.5.3, which
was derived specifically to
apply to walls subjected
to: 1) axial loads and,
2)moments due to the
axial loads acting at an
eccentricity of one-sixth of
the thickness of the wall
from the midplane of the
wa
Shear Walls
• Shear walls may be planar walls, standing in one vertical
plane, or three-dimensional assemblies of planar walls or
wall segments.
• The latter occur as elevator shafts in buildings where four or
more vertical walls enclose a stairwell or a group of
elevators.
• In the design of a wall assembly, it is necessary to consider
the transfer of shear forces from the wall segments serving
as webs of the assemblies, to wall segments that act as
flanges.
Shear walls.
Shear walls resist lateral wind hw / lw ≥ 3.00
or earthquake loads parallel
to the plane of the wall in
addition to gravity loads from
floor and roof

hw / lw ≤ 2.00
hw is the overall height of a wall

lw is the horizontal length of a wall

h is the thickness of a wall

Moment-resisting frame for Lateral Force
Resistance
Suitable for buildings up to 10 stories

Vl 3 Vl 2 L
∆ AB = +
24 Ec I c 24 Eb I b
 Two-dimensional analytical model of a shear-wall–frame
building. Only for symmetrical buildings

Use for buildings from 8 to 30 stories

Part of the lateral load is resisted by

the frame and another part is resisted
by the shear wall.

Two-dimension models can be used

to analyze the lateral force resisting
system.

• Frame stiffness is that

of all frames parallel to
the shear wall.
• Wall stiffness is that of
all walls in one
direction
Analysis Methods
ACI318M-14
CHAPTER 6—STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
Permitted Analysis Methods
6.2.3 Methods of analysis permitted by this chapter shall be
(a) through (e):
(a) The simplified method for analysis of continuous beams
and one-way slabs for gravity loads in 6.5
(b) First-order in 6.6
(c) Elastic second-order in 6.7
(d) Inelastic second-order in 6.8
(e) Finite element in 6.9
6.6.2 Modeling of members and structural
systems
6.6.3 Section properties
6.6.3.1 Factored load analysis
 Software Modelling of Stiffness
ACI ETABS

Beams........................................0.35*Ig I22 = I33 = 0.35

Columns....................................0.70*Ig I22 = I33 = 0.70
Walls-Uncracked.................0.70*Ig modeled as shell f11, f22 = 0.70
Walls-Cracked......................0.35*Ig similar to Walls-Uncracked (with modifiers of 0.35)
Software Modelling of Stiffness
• Walls are generally not designed for out-of-plane bending to avoid
excessive longitudinal reinforcement. In this case, use a small
modifier say 0.1 for m11, m22 and m12 so numerical instabilities
could be avoided. However, use m11, m22, m12 = 0.70 (or 0.35)
when considering the out-of-plane bending in wall.

Flat Plates & Flat Slabs....0.25*Ig (ACI318M)

• When modelled as membrane f11, f22, f12 = 0.25
• modeled as shell – f11, f22, f12, m11, m22, m12 = 0.25 (for both
cases fxx is not important if rigid diaphragm is assigned)
 ACI318M-14: Chapter 6

R6.6.3.1.1:
Layout of Building

The stiffness of slabs, beams, columns, and walls must be sufficient to

withstand service loads without excessive deflection or vibration

Gravity load on shear walls must sufficient to prevent uplift of wall

foundation due to lateral load

Shear wall must be designed to resist shear force, in addition to

combination of axial load and bending

Wall thickness and cover must be adequate for fire resistance as

specified by building code
General building floor plan.
CM: Center of mass, same as
the geometric centroid of the
floor plate

Lateral force is assumed to

act through CM

CR: Center of Lateral

Resisting System including
walls and moment resisting
frames

Eccentricity between CM and

CR creates torsion moments
Eccentricity of center of resistance (CR) with respect to center of mass (CM).
Software Modelling
• Display > Show Tables > Analysis > Results > Structural Results >
Centers of Mass and Rigidity > OK
Center of rigidity is the stiffness
centroid within a floor-diaphragm
plan. When the center of rigidity is
subjected to lateral loading, the floor
diaphragm will experience only
translational displacement.
Shear Walls in
ACI318M-14
Chapter 11
11.6—Reinforcement limits
11.6—Reinforcement limits
11.7.2 Spacing of longitudinal reinforcement
• 11.7.2.1 Spacing s of
longitudinal bars in cast-in-place
walls shall not exceed the lesser
of 3h and 450 mm. If shear
reinforcement is required for in-
plane strength, spacing of
longitudinal reinforcement shall
not exceed ℓw/3.
11.7.2 Spacing of longitudinal reinforcement
• 11.7.2.3 For walls with h greater than 250 mm, except
basement walls and cantilever retaining walls, distributed
reinforcement for each direction shall be placed in two
layers parallel with wall faces in accordance with (a) and (b):
(a) One layer consisting of at least one-half and not exceeding
two-thirds of total reinforcement required for each direction
shall be placed at least 50 mm, but not exceeding h/3, from
the exterior surface.
(b) The other layer consisting of the balance of required
reinforcement in that direction, shall be placed at least 20
mm, but not greater than h/3, from the interior surface.
Minimum Reinforcement –
Summary in U.S. Units
Limit on Story Drift

• ASCE/SEI Committee 7 does not indicate

a limit on lateral story drift due to wind
• National Building Code of Canada limits
story drift to 1/500 of story height.
• The maximum acceptable drift depends
on the ability for occupants of the building
to perceive the motion of the building
during a major windstorm.
Minimum Shear Wall Thickness

• ACI318 does not suggest a

minimum shear wall thickness (only
bearing walls)
• Recommended (White and
MacGregor) is 1/20 but not less than
1/15 of the unsupported length of
the shear wall
Vertical Flexural Reinforcement and Boundary Elements

• Vertical flexural
reinforcement is used
to resist wind forces
• If additional vertical
reinforcement is
needed, they can
concentrated at the
ends forming “so-
called” boundary
elements.
Enclosed Ties for Vertical Reinforcement
ACI 14.3.6 — Vertical reinforcement need not be
enclosed by transverse ties if vertical reinforcement
area is not greater than 0.01 times gross concrete
area, or where vertical reinforcement is not required
as compression reinforcement.
Design of shear walls

φM n ≥ M u
φN n ≥ N u
φVn ≥ Vu
ACI318M-14: 21.2—
Strength reduction
factors for structural
concrete members and
connections
R9.3.2.2 ACI Commentary
Flexural Strength of
Rectangular Shear
Walls with Uniform
Curtains of Vertical
Distributed
Reinforcement

Procedure by: A. E.
Cardenas and others.
Assumptions
• All steel in tension zone
yields in tension
• All steel in compression
zone yields in
compression
• Tension force acts at
middepth of the tension
zone
Design formulas
Ast = total
 lw − c 
T =   Ast f y steel area

 w 
l

 c  Force in
C s =   Ast f y compression

 lw  steel

Cc = 0.85 f c′hβ1c Compression in

concrete

C = Cc + C s Total Compression Force

ACI318M-14: 22.2.2 Design assumptions for
concrete
Design Formulas
Cc + C s − T − N u = 0

 c   lw − c 
0.85 f c′hβ1c +   Ast f y −   Ast f y − N u = 0

 w
l  w 
l
 α +ω 
c =  lw
 ω = ρl
fy
 0 . 85 β1 + 2ω  f c′

Nu
α =
hl w f ′
Design Formulas

 lw   lw − c 
M n = T   +   N u
 2   2 

Nominal
Flexural
Strength of
Wall Section
Shear Strength of Shear Wall

φVn ≥ Vu
Vn = Vc + Vs ≤ 10 f c′ hd
d=0.8 lw
 Vu 
Vs ≥  − Vc 
 φ 
Shear Strength of Shear Wall
For walls subjected to axial compression (U.S. Units)

Vc = 2λ f c′ hd
ACI318M-14 (S.I.): Shear Capacity of Walls
Shear Strength of Shear Wall
(U.S.)

For walls subjected to axial tension (ACI Eq. 11-8)

Negative
for tension,
psi

 N 

Vc = 2 1 + u λ f c′ hd
 500 A 
 g 
Shear Capacity: ACI318M-14
 Shear Strength of Shear Wall
(U.S.)
For walls subjected to axial compression (ACI
11.9.6), use the small of this and next slide

Nu d
Vc = 3.3λ f c′ hd +
4lw

Shear strength at the

initiation of web-shear
cracking and normally governs
for short shear walls
 Shear Strength of Shear Wall (U.S.)

  Nu  
 lw 1.25λ f c′ + 0.2 

  l w 
h
Vc = 0.6λ ′
fc +  hd
M u lw
 − 
 Vu 2 
Do not use
equation of
this term is
negative

Governs for slender walls and corresponds to shear strength at the

initiation of flexural-shear cracking at a section lw/2 from base of
column
Critical Section
  Nu  
 lw 1.25λ f c′ + 0.2 
  lwh  
Vc = 0.6λ f c′ +  hd
M u lw
 − 
 Vu 2 
Example