Cracked Coupling Slabs in Shear Wall Buildings

Abstract

A finite element analysis is performed on the effective coupling stiffness and bending stress distribution in a cracked slab coupling a pair of laterally loaded shear walls. Particular attention is focused on the effect of a transverse crack situated at the highly stressed inner edges of the walls. The influence of the length of crack on the effective stiffness and longitudinal bending stress distribution is examined for typical slab-wall configurations. It is shown that the presence of a transverse crack results in a substantial reduction in slab-coupling stiffness, especially when the wall-opening ratio is small. The distribution of longitudinal bending moments in the slab is not greatly affected by the presence of a crack, apart from the region close to the crack tip, where bending stress concentrations occur.