Estimation of Shear Strength of Structural Shear Walls

Abstract

An analysis method for predicting the shear strength and behavior of structural shear walls under both monotonic and cyclic loading is presented in this paper. The proposed analysis method is based on the softened truss model theory and utilizes a newly proposed cracking angle of the concrete strut. The cracking angle is developed using a regression analysis of the reported shear capacity values of 100 experimental shear walls. The analysis pays particular attention to parameters expected to influence the walls’ shear capacity including the geometric properties, reinforcement ratios, internal stresses, and concrete strength. The proposed method has been used to predict the shear capacity of the tested walls, and their deformation behavior both pre- and postcracking, and the results compared well with the experimental data. The proposed strut cracking angle also matched well the cracking patterns obtained experimentally.