Seismic Analysis of Reinforced concrete coupled shear walls

Keywords: Shear wall, Coupling beam, Openings, Stiffness, Drifts and Fundamental frequency
ABSTRACT: Shear walls are used to resist lateral forces such as wind forces and earthquake forces. These shear
walls may be pierced by numerous openings for providing some utilities. In this present work seismic analysis of
coupled RC shear wall building is done and parametric study with various percentage of openings is done, such as
fundamental frequency, base shear, drift, stiffness, shear force and moment of coupling beams. The performance of
coupled shear wall is compared with various percentage of openings of shear wall area. A 3D analysis of the shear
wall structure is carried out using the ETABS software package.
1

Introduction

Many medium-rise apartment buildings are being constructed using shear walls to provide resistance to lateral forces
such as wind forces and earthquake forces. These shear walls may have openings for the windows, doors and duct
spaces for functional reasons.
Framed structure with shear wall is frequently adopted as the structural system for high-rise buildings. This structural
system would also have many openings for the entrance to elevator or stair case etc. Generally, Frame sections,
membrane and shell element are used to model frames, slab and shear wall respectively in the analysis of building
using ETABS 9.2. The openings affect the seismic analysis parameters of building, Comparing coupled shear wall
with 12%, 25% and 30% opening, it is observed that opening has significant effect in dynamic analysis. With increase
in opening shear force of coupling beam is decreasing and moment is increasing.
2

Building Description

For the purpose of analysis, a multistory building having 15 storeys is considered. The building is having dimension of
24 m x 18 m, Thickness of a typical floor slab is assumed 200mm.Height of each floor is 3m. All columns are
assumed square with size 800mm and beams are size of 350 mm x 700 mm. The dead load is computed assuming
the density of concrete 25kN/m 3.The building is assumed to be situated in zone IV of the seismic zone map. In this
problem shear wall are symmetrically located at the corners of the building having width of 6m and thickness of
250mm.Various sizes of the openings are studied, starting from opening area 12%, 25% and 30% of shear wall area
in rectangular pattern. The openings are provided on all storeys.

Figure 1 Typical floor plan of the building

In the current study, ETABS Nonlinear software is utilized to create 3D models and carry out all analysis. The
software is able to perform the geometric nonlinear analysis of space frames under static loading, taking into account
both geometric nonlinearity and material inelasticity. The software accepts static loads (either forces or
displacements) as well as dynamic (accelerations) actions and has the ability to perform eigen value analysis,
nonlinear and linear dynamic analyses.
Frame sections, membrane and shell element are used to model frames, slab and shear wall respectively in the
analysis of building. Shell element facilitates automatic finite element meshing of the entire shear wall with automatic
support generation through its connectivity to other structural elements. After meshing, shell element divides into
vertical and horizontal elements. Vertical elements assigned as pier. Horizontal element assigned as spandrel. Wall
spandrel forces are output at the left and right ends of wall spandrel element.
Shell-type behavior means that both in-plane membrane stiffness and out-of-plane plate bending stiffness are
considered. Membrane-type behavior means that only in-plane membrane stiffness is considered. Plate-type
behavior means that only out-of-plane plate bending stiffness is considered. The slab sections are modeled as rigid
diaphragms so that the masses of the floor are automatically lumped at their centre of gravity.
Shear walls with rectangular openings have been modeled using the customizable construction gridline. The
parameters considered in this study are storey shear, storey drift, fundamental frequency, stiffness and rectangular
openings with 12%, 25%, 30% and shear wall without opening.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 2. Elevation of (a) shear wall without opening (b) shear wall with 12% opening (c) shear wall with 25%
opening (d) shear wall with 30% opening.

Graphs

4500
4000
3500
3000
shear wall without opening
2500
Storey Force (kN) 2000
1500
1000
500
shear wall with 30% opening
0
1
2

shear wall with 12% opening

shear wall with 25% opening

10

11

12

13

14

15

Floor Level

Figure 3. variation in storey force

In above figure, storey force is maximum at bottom storey and minimum at top storey. It decreases with increase
in opening. Storey force is maximum for shear wall without opening and minimum for shear wall with 30% opening.

0
0
0
0
shear wall without opening
0
Storey Drift (m) 0

shear wall with 12% opening

shear wall with 25% opening

0
0
0 opening
shear wall with 30%
0
1
2
3

10

11

12

13

14

15

Floor Level

Figure 4. Variation in storey drift

In above figure, storey drift is maximum at top storey and minimum at bottom storey. It increases with increase
in opening. Storey drift is maximum for shear wall with 30% opening and minimum for shear wall without opening.

Floor Level

shear wall with 25% opening

shear wall with 30% opening
shear wall with 12% opening
100

200

300

400

500

Shear Force (kN)

Figure 5. Variation of shear force in coupling beams

In above figure, shear force in coupling beam is maximum at bottom storey and minimum at top storey. Comparing
coupled shear wall with 12%, 25% and 30% opening, it is observed that the opening has significant effect in dynamic
analysis. With increase in opening shear force of coupling beam is decreasing.

Floor Level

shear wall and 25% opening

shear wall and 30% opening
shear wall and 12% opening
0

200 400 600 800 10001200

Moment (kN-m)

Figure 6. Variation of moment in coupling beams

In above figure, moment in coupling beam is maximum at bottom storey and minimum at top storey. Comparing
coupled shear wall with 12%, 25% and 30% opening, it is observed that the opening has significant effect in dynamic
analysis. With increase in opening moment of coupling beam is increasing.

Shear wall with opening

Medium

Table
period

Mode no

Period
(sec)

Frequency
Cycles per
(sec)

Shear Wall Without

opening

12%

25%

30%

0.7794

0.7915

0.8222

0.8573

0.7752

0.7881

0.8207

0.8566

0.4895

0.4991

0.5239

0.5508

1.2831

1.2634

1.2162

1.1664

1.2900

1.2688

1.2184

1.1673

2.0428

2.0034

1.9085

1.8154

1.
and

fundamental frequency

Conclusions
The analysis of the given frame structure with shear wall lead to the following conclusions:

It is found that time period for 12%, 25% and 30% openings is greater than shear wall without
opening. Time period increases with increase in opening.

Frequency for 12%, 25% and 30% less than shear wall without opening. Frequency decreases with
increase in opening.

Base shear is very important parameter in earthquake resistant design of buildings. The result is
based on equivalent static analysis and response spectrum analysis. It is found that the base shear
for 12%, 25% and 30% is less than base shear for shear wall without opening.

If we compare the storey drift of building with 12%, 25%, 30% opening in shear wall and without
opening in shear wall, storey drift of 12%, 25% and 30% opening is greater than without opening.

Comparing the methods of seismic analysis (ESA and RSA), it is observed that the values of
seismic parameters such as story shear and story drift are more in equivalent static analysis than
response spectrum analysis.

Comparing coupled shear wall with 12%, 25% and 30% opening, it is observed that opening has
significant effect in dynamic analysis. With increase in opening shear force of coupling beam is
decreasing and moment is increasing.

5 Acknowledgement
I am very much thankful to my guide Mrs. Trupti A. Kinjawadekar for her
guidance.

References

Etabs Integrated Building Design Software, Computers and structures, Inc. Berkeley,California,USA.
Indian standard - Criteria for earthquake resistant design of structures, IS-1893(part 1) : 2002, Bureau of Indian
standards, New Delhi.
S. K. Madan,(2006). Design forces for coupling beams of shear walls subjected to seismic forces, The Indian Concrete
Journal, pp 46-50.
V. K. Sehgal and Kadam S S,. (2010). A Study of Openings in Shear walls, The IUP Journal of Structural Engineering,
Vol. III, No. 1, pp 28-41.