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SHEAR WALLS Nilson P453

Shear walls resist in-plane forces and are used to provide lateral stability in systems subjected to wind
and earthquake loads. Shear walls may be bearing or nonbearing. Bearing and shear walls are
considered structural walls by ASCE/SEI 7 (Ref. 14.1 ), and in either case both must be designed for a
combination of all applied loads.
Figure 14.2 illustrates the in-plane and out-of-plane forces on walls and identifies general wall
dimensions.

GENERAL DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS


The design of structural walls has evolved through years of practice. The ACI Code
allows a variety of design approaches, including computer analysis and empirical
methods. For out-of-plane loading, walls may be designed as wide columns using the
procedures discussed in Chapters 9 and 10, or they may be designed using methods presented
in ACI Code 11.5.3 and 11.8 and discussed in Sections 14.3 and 14.4.
Design for in-plane loading is addressed in ACI Code 11.5.4 and Section 14.5.
The effective length of a wall ℓw is determined by the loading. A uniformly
loaded wall has an effective length equal to the overall length of the wall. Walls supporting
concentrated loads have effective lengths equal to the lesser of the center-tocenter
spacing of the loads or the bearing length plus four times the wall thickness.
a. Wall Thickness
In all cases involving vertical loads, wall design must consider slenderness effects.
The ACI Code does not limit wall thickness h for bearing walls, except for walls
designed by a method described in ACI Code 11.5.3 as the simplified design method
(see Section 14.3). For the simplified method, ACI Code 11.3.1 limits the thickness
of interior walls to the smallest of h = 4 in., ℓ c /25, or ℓ w /25 for bearing walls and
7.5 in. for exterior or foundation walls, where ℓ c is the unsupported height of the wall
and ℓ w is the unsupported length of the wall, both measured center-to-center of the
supports. The thickness of nonbearing walls is limited to the smallest of h = 4 in.,
ℓ c /30, and ℓ w /30. In all cases, the thickness h may be reduced if analysis indicates
that a wall with lower thickness has adequate strength and stability. The effective
length is not considered to extend beyond the boundary of the wall.
b. Modeling Considerations
Modeling walls for analysis typically assumes that the unbraced wall height ℓ c is the
center-to-center distance between supports, the wall is simply supported between
floors, and the maximum out-of-plane moment occurs at midheight. Stability considerations
assume that the wall is cracked when lateral loads are applied. The maximum
moment on walls subjected to out-of-plane loading is increased by the effects
of vertical loads. Iterative calculations may be required to determine the design
load, thus:
M u = M ua + P u Δ u (14.1)
where M ua is the maximum factored load not including the P- Δ effects . The out-ofplane
deflection is calculated using cracked section properties. The strength reduction
factor ϕ = 0.65 for walls, as it is for other compression members subjected to axial
loads and moment with tied reinforcement. In regions of walls reinforced by spiral
reinforcement, ϕ = 0.75.
c. Reinforcement
ACI Code 11.6.1 requires minimum reinforcement in the longitudinal (vertical) and
transverse (horizontal) directions in walls, independent of loading, unless “adequate
strength and stability can be demonstrated by structural analysis.” The reinforcement
ratio in the longitudinal direction ρ ℓ must be at least 0.0012 for No. 5 (No. 16) and
smaller bars with fy ≥ 60 ksi, increasing to 0.0015 for other deformed bars. The reinforcement
ratio in the transverse direction ρ t must be at least 0.0020 for No. 5 (No. 16)
and smaller bars with fy ≥ 60 ksi, increasing to 0.0025 for other deformed bars. For
welded wire reinforcement not larger than W31 or D31, the minimum vales of ρ ℓ and
ρ t are, respectively, 0.0012 and 0.0020.
For walls with in-plane shear V u ≥ 0.5 ϕ V c , ACI Code 11.6.2 requires ρ t ≥ 0.0025,
independent of reinforcement type. Test results indicate that for low shear walls,

vertical as well as horizontal reinforcement is needed, and the ACI Code requires
vertical bars or wires with area A ℓ and spacing s 1 (discussed in Section 14.5) such that
the ratio of the vertical steel to gross concrete area for a horizontal section ρ ℓ is not less
than given in Eq. (14.2)
ρ ℓ ≥ 0.0025 + 0.5(2.5 − h w /ℓ w )( ρ t − 0.0025) (14.2)
and not less than 0.0025, but need not be greater than the minimum horizontal reinforcement
ρ t required by ACI 11.6.1. In Eq. (14.2), h w is the height of the entire wall
and ℓ w is the length of entire wall, or length of wall segment or wall pier considered
in direction of shear force. When ρ t = 0.0025, the longitudinal reinforcement requirement
is ρ ℓ = 0.0025.
Reinforcement spacing s must not exceed 3 h or 18 in., in accordance with ACI
Code 11.7. If shear reinforcement is required to carry the factored load, the maximum
spacing must also be less than ℓ w /3 for transverse reinforcement and ℓ w /5 for longitudinal
reinforcement. For walls with thicknesses greater than 10 in., except basement
and cantilever retaining walls, the reinforcement must be distributed in two layers parallel
to the wall faces. Where the reinforcement is placed in two layers, at least 1
_ 2 and
not more than 2
_ 3 of the reinforcement must be at least 2 in. and not more than h /3 from
the exterior face. The other layer, consisting of the remaining portion of the reinforcement,
is placed at least 3
_ 4 in. but not more than h y3 from the interior surface. The ACI
Code does not specify requirements for interior walls; however, a minimum of 3
_ 4 in.
cover at both faces is appropriate.
ACI Code 11.7.5 requires the use of additional reinforcement to limit cracks that
can occur near the corners of openings in walls, such as used for windows and doors.
That reinforcement must consist of at least two No. 5 (No. 16) bars in walls with two
layers of reinforcement in both directions or one No. 5 (No. 16) bar in walls with a
single layer of reinforcement in both directions. The additional reinforcement must be
anchored to develop f y in tension at the corners of the openings and may be placed on
the diagonal near each corner or oriented in both the horizontal and the vertical directions
near each corner.

14.3 SIMPLIFIED DESIGN METHOD FOR AXIAL LOAD


AND OUT-OF-PLANE MOMENT
ACI Code 11.5.3 permits the use of a simplified design method for solid walls with uniform
thickness if the resultant of all factored vertical loads lies within the middle third of the wall
thickness. The method has been shown to be conservative when compared to detailed
calculations for walls with the same dimensions (Ref. 14.2 ).
For walls meeting the restrictions, the nominal axial load capacity may be calculated as

where A g is the gross area of the wall, k is the effective length factor to account for
stability due to end fixity, ℓ c is the unsupported height of the wall measured center
to center of the joints as it is for columns, and h is the wall thickness. The value of k
equals 0.8 for walls braced against lateral translation and restrained against rotation at
one or both ends, 1.0 for walls restrained against translation and unrestrained against
rotation at both ends, and 2.0 for walls not braced against translation. There is no
requirement to design for bending using the simplified design method.

EXAMPLE 14.1 A 12-ft long bearing wall carries a factored load from above of 15,000 plf, as shown
in
Fig. 14.3. The load is centered on the wall thickness. For a center-to-center floor height
h w = ℓ c = 12 ft-6 in., f c _ = 4000 psi, and f y = 60,000 psi, design the wall using the simplified
design method.
S olution. Assume a wall thickness of h = 6 in., giving a wall dead load of w d = h y12
× 150 pcf × h w = 6y12 × 150 × 12.5 = 938 plf. The factored load on the wall is
P u = (1.2 × w d + w u ) ℓ w = (1.2 × 938 + 15,000) × 12y1000 = 195 kips.
The load is applied within the middle third of the wall thickness, so the simplified design
method may be used. Using Eq. (14.3) with k = 1.0, the wall capacity is

Nilson P450

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