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Squat reinforced concrete walls (height less than twice the length) 318 2005); 2) Chapter 11 of ACI 318-05 (ACI Committee
are important structural components of both conventional and 318 2005); 3) Barda et al. (1977); 4) ASCE/SEI 43-05
nuclear safety-related structures. Predictive equations are available in (ASCE 2005); and 5) Wood (1990). Nominal rather than
the literature to compute the shear strength of squat walls but the design strengths are used for the comparison because the
scatter in the results for a given set of design variables is large.
strength reduction factor is not intended to account for bias in
The utility of five predictive equations is evaluated using data from
tests of 120 rectangular walls. The equation proposed by Wood in the strength equation. Reported material strengths and
1990 resulted in a median ratio of the predicted to measured member dimensions are used to predict nominal strengths.
strengths close to 1.0 with a small coefficient of variation. Test The mean, median, and dispersion in the ratios of the
data are also used to quantify the loss of strength with repeated predicted to measured peak shear strengths provide insight
cycling. The inter-cycle drop in strength and stiffness is significant, into the utility of each strength equation and the simplified
with the largest reductions observed for walls with aspect ratios models on which the equations are based. The loss of shear
less than 0.5. strength with repeated cycling to displacements equal to or
greater than that of the displacement associated with the peak
Keywords: reinforced concrete; shear strength; squat walls; strength resistance is presented. Based on the observed comparisons,
degradation. one equation is identified as the most reliable of the five. Factors
to estimate the mean second- and third-cycle strengths as a
INTRODUCTION percentage of the measured peak shear strength are provided
Squat reinforced concrete walls, defined herein as walls as a function of the aspect ratio.
with a height-length ratio less than or equal to 2, are widely
used in conventional buildings and safety-related nuclear RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE
structures. The typical behavior of such walls under quasi- This study presents experimental data related to the shear
static cyclic loading in a standard test is shown in Fig. 1, strength of squat reinforced concrete walls with rectangular
where only the first quadrant of the force-displacement cross sections. The accuracy and reliability of five predictive
response of a rectangular reinforced concrete squat wall with equations used widely in U.S. practice are investigated. Loss
an aspect ratio of 0.5 is plotted (Synge 1980). This wall of wall shear strength with repeated cycling to the same or
attains its peak strength during the first cycle of loading to a larger displacement is quantified. The data generated in this
displacement of 10 mm (0.394 in.); its strength and stiffness study can be used to develop robust nonlinear macromodels
degrade rapidly with repeated cycling. Accurate evaluation of squat rectangular walls for analysis and to validate
of both the peak and degraded strengths of squat walls is predictive strength equations developed in the future.
important because conventional buildings are likely to
experience multiple deformation cycles at or beyond yield in
maximum earthquake shaking, and nuclear safety-related
structures will likely be subjected to multiple cycles of
loading to peak strength in safe shutdown earthquake shaking.
Building codes, manuals of practice, guidelines, and the
literature provide a number of predictive equations for the
peak shear strength of reinforced concrete walls. These
procedures use parameters such as aspect ratio, horizontal
reinforcement ratio, vertical reinforcement ratio, and axial
force to estimate the peak shear strength. Prior studies have
indicated that the scatter in the shear strength predicted by
these equations is substantial, which is problematic because
shear strength is the key variable for force-based design and
performance assessment. The topic of strength degradation
in structural walls is not widely reported in the literature. Fig. 1Load-displacement relationship of Wall 1 tested by
Herein, the results of tests of 120 squat walls with rectangular Synge (1980). (Note: 1 kN = 0.2248 kip; 1 mm = 0.0394 in.)
cross sections are compiled and reduced to evaluate peak
shear strength and to characterize strength degradation. The ACI Structural Journal, V. 105, No. 4, July-August 2008.
MS No. S-2007-074.R1 received February 19, 2007, and reviewed under Institute
experimentally measured peak shear strengths of the 120 walls publication policies. Copyright 2008, American Concrete Institute. All rights reserved,
are compared with nominal shear strengths predicted by five including the making of copies unless permission is obtained from the copyright proprietors.
Pertinent discussion including authors closure, if any, will be published in the May-
equations: 1) Chapter 21 of ACI 318-05 (ACI Committee June 2009 ACI Structural Journal if the discussion is received by January 1, 2009.
Some authors used cube strength rather than cylinder strength to report compressive
*Moment-shear
strength of concrete: cube strengths were converted to cylinder strengths per Mindess
ratios are normalized by actual wall length herein. et al. (2003).
h Nu
V n3 = 8 f c 2.5 f c -----w- + ------------
- + v f yv t w d 2
Chapter 21 of ACI 318-05 imposes an upper limit of
(7)
10 f c psi (0.83 f c MPa) on peak shear stress; the limit is l w 4l w t w
intended to prevent diagonal compression failure. A lower
limit of 0.25% is imposed on the horizontal and vertical web
reinforcement ratios. For walls with aspect ratios less than or Equation Set IV is those of Eq. 4.2-4 and 4.2-3 of ASCE/
equal to 2.0, ACI 318-05, Chapter 21, requires that the vertical SEI 43-05 (Eq. (8) through (10)) to predict the peak shear
web reinforcement ratio be no less than the horizontal strength of squat walls with barbells or flanges. This equation set
can also be used for near-rectangular walls with small
web reinforcement ratio.
barbells or flanges when the total plan area of the wall is only
The procedure to predict the peak shear strength in Section slightly greater than that of the web alone. This equation set is
11.10 of ACI 318-05 is given by Eq. (2) through (5) applicable for walls with aspect ratios hw/lw 2 and vertical
(Equation Set II). and horizontal web reinforcement ratios less than or equal
to 1%. If the reinforcement ratios exceed 1%, the combined
reinforcement ratio se (calculated using Eq. (10)) is limited to
1%. ASCE/SEI 43-05 (ASCE 2005) imposes an upper limit
of 20 f c psi (1.66 f c MPa) on the peak shear stress.
h Nu
v n = 8.3 f c 3.4 f c -----w- 0.5 + -------------
- + se f y1 20 f c (9)
lw 4l w t w
se = Av + Bh (10)
standard deviation, is smaller for Equation Set II. The Barda Note: COV = coefficient of variation.
Fig. 6Variation of ratio of nominal shear strength predicted Fig. 8Variation of ratio of nominal shear strength predicted
using Equation Set I (without upper stress limit of using Equation Set II to measured peak shear strength with
10 f c ) to measured peak shear strength with horizontal horizontal web reinforcement ratio. (Note: 1 psi = 6.895 kPa.)
web reinforcement ratio). (Note: 1 psi = 6.895 kPa.)
strength of squat rectangular walls. Figure 11, which
noted that the sample size in this range of moment-shear presents the variation of measured peak shear strength
ratio values is extremely small. normalized by the product of f c and (d3tw) with the
combined reinforcement ratio (se fy1), shows that the
ACI 318-05, Chapter 11Figure 8 presents the variation
20 f c psi (1.66 f c MPa) upper bound on peak shear
of Vn2/Vpeak with wall horizontal web reinforcement ratio. Most
stress was not reached by any of the 120 walls. The utility of
of the unconservative strength predictions correspond to
this upper limit on shear stress is highly questionable.
values of h fyh greater than 350 psi (2413 kPa). Most of the
predictions of peak shear strength are conservative for values of Wood (1990)Figure 12 presents the variation of Vn5/
h fyh less than 300 psi (2068 kPa). The upper stress limit of Vpeak with Avf fy2/Aw , where Avf is the total area of wall
Equation Set II governs the calculated strengths of walls with vertical reinforcement. Woods (1990) equation (Equation
h fyh larger than 500 psi (3447 kPa). Set V) becomes more conservative as the vertical reinforcement
ratio increases. One hundred and ten of the 120 predictions
Barda et al. (1977)Equation Set III is based on the work
of peak shear strength were governed by the lower limit on
of Barda et al. (1977) who tested eight squat reinforced
shear stress of 6 f c psi (0.5 f c MPa); none of the
concrete walls with flanges. Figure 9 presents the variation
predictions was governed by the upper limit of shear stress.
of Vn3/Vpeak with wall vertical web reinforcement ratio.*
Of the five sets of predictive equations, Woods (1990)
Equation Set III substantially overestimates the peak shear
equation provides the best estimates of peak shear strength
strength of rectangular walls for v fyv greater than 200 psi
of rectangular squat walls, with the smallest coefficient of
(1379 kPa).
variation and mean and median values of 1.01 and 0.91,
ASCE/SEI 43-05 (ASCE 2005)Figure 10 presents the respectively. Ninety percent of the strength ratios determined
variation of Vn4/Vpeak with the combined wall reinforcement using this equation ranged between 0.50 and 1.50.
ratio (se fy1). Equation Set IV overestimates the peak shear
Group 2: ACI 318-05-compliant squat walls
*Equation Set III uses the vertical web reinforcement ratio to calculate peak shear
Chapter 21 of ACI 318-05 requires that reinforcement in
strength and not the horizontal web reinforcement used in previous strength calculations. structural walls be continuous and uniformly distributed
Fig. 9Variation of ratio of nominal shear strength predicted Fig. 11Variation of measured peak shear strength normalized
using Equation Set III to measured peak shear strength with by product of f c and d3tw with combined reinforcement ratio
vertical reinforcement ratio. (Note: 1 psi = 6.895 kPa.) (sefy1). (Note: 1 psi = 6.895 kPa.)
Vn2/
1.00 0.86 0.38 0.38 0.49 2.03 41
Vpeak
Vn3/
1.61 1.58 0.44 0.27 0.91 2.61 96
Vpeak
Vn4/
1.40 1.35 0.41 0.29 0.71 2.35 82
Vpeak
Vn5/
Fig. 14Distribution of ratio of the predicted shear 1.01 0.92 0.35 0.34 0.48 1.97 46
Vpeak
strengths to measured peak shear strength considering only Note: COV = coefficient of variation.
shear-critical walls.
Vn2/
0.92 0.86 0.42 0.45 0.37 2.73 30
Vpeak
Vn3/
1.24 1.23 0.40 0.32 0.59 2.51 73
Vpeak
Vn4/
1.48 1.41 0.36 0.24 0.71 2.71 92
Vpeak
Vn5/
1.03 0.93 0.33 0.32 0.57 2.23 44
Fig. 15Variation of c with moment-shear ratio for Vpeak
shear-critical walls. Note: COV = coefficient of variation.
Vn2/
0.91 0.85 0.33 0.37 0.49 1.60 29
Vpeak
Vn3/
Vpeak 1.42 1.31 0.40 0.28 0.91 2.51 92
Vn4/
1.43 1.35 0.36 0.25 0.71 2.11 88
Vpeak
Vn5/
1.00 0.89 0.30 0.30 0.57 1.67 46
Vpeak
Note: COV = coefficient of variation.