Simple Analogous Frames for Shear Wall Analysis

Abstract

Two types of analogous frames have been developed for the stress analysis of shear walls. They provide an alternative to the finite element technique for shear walls that can be subdivided into a mesh of rectangular modules. One analogous frame is similar to the widely used wide‐column analogous frame, except for the addition of diagonal braces in each module. The diagonal braces prevent the interference of the bending and shear stiffnesses, which occur in the ordinary wide‐column analogy, and therefore allow the more accurate representation of shear walls with a high shear to moment ratio. The second analogous frame also includes horizontally rigid arms and braces, but the central column of the previous frame is omitted and replaced by a column on one vertical edge and a hinged link on the other. A standard frame analysis program is used to analyze the analogous frames. The results compare in accuracy with simple rectangular plane stress finite elements.