APPROXIMATE ANALYSIS OF RC FRAME-SHEAR WALL SYSTEMS

Abstract

High-rise buildings are a common feature of Civil Engineering construction of this century due to urbanization and scarcity of desirable land. As height of the structure increases, lateral load becomes more and more predominant, requiring additional strengthening of structural members. Structural systems with shear walls are found to be ideal solution for buildings above 12 to 15 storey height. Due to very high inplane stiffness, a shear-wall is a very efficient lateral load resisting element. For all high rise buildings, the problem of providing adequate stiffness and prevent large lateral drift is as important as providing adequate strength. Analysis of wall-frame structures need extensive use of computer with a lot of pre-and-post processing of data. Approximate methods of analysis have proved to be quite useful for preliminary analysis of wall frame structures subjected to lateral loads. This dissertation primarily deals with the approximate methods of analysis for reinforced concrete frame shear-wall structures. Two approximate methods have been- taken, one based on graphical method which is applicable only for symmetric buildings and another is based on recently published mathematical model developed by Coull et al. Three wall-frame structures falling in different categories from structural behaviour point of view have been studied for comparison of results obtained from approximate methods of analysis. Relevant observations and conclusions arrived at are reported.