Optimum Level of Shear Wall Curtailment in Wall-Frame Buildings: The Continuum Model Revisited

Abstract

The continuum model constitutes a simple and efficient tool to analyze high-rise wall-frame buildings. It has been commonly used in recent decades to analyze the behavior of these structures. The related equations are revisited to study the effect of the calculation precision on the determination of the optimum level of wall curtailment. The results obtained illustrate the influence of calculation precision in specifying the optimum level of wall curtailment. The relationship between the curtailment level and the resulting internal forces is investigated. The level of curtailment which results in the minimum top deflection of the structure eliminates, at the same time, the negative moments and negative shear forces in the wall.