Effect of the Size of Multiple Perforations on the Performance of Long Reinforced Concrete Shear Walls

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of the size of multiple openings on the behavior of shear walls. In this study, the wall span is 24 m, the wall depth is 4 m, and is 0.3 m thick. The work involves the discussion of the three main kinematic and strength indicators that influence the shear wall performance. They are the load displacement relationship for the wall top edge, the equivalent concrete stress flow within the body of the wall, and the bending stress gradient at the bottom of the wall. The wall is constructed of reinforced concrete. A nonlinear finite element push over analysis has been carried out using Ansys software. The element Solid65 presented by Ansys effectively simulates the true behavior of concrete. The steel reinforcement has been modeled by link180 element. Primarily a finite element model for the solid bearing RC shear wall has been constructed and analyzed. The primary step has involved calibration and validation of the finite element model. Thereafter, pushover analysis has been performed for four perforated walls of various opening sizes. The study has indicated that when the percentage of the sum of the perforations’ areas to the total wall area surpasses 8.35%, the shear wall load carrying capacity starts to degrade. When the percentage of the sum of perforations surpasses 16.7% of the total wall area, the shear wall behavior starts to convert to that of two coupled shear walls. The larger the opening size is, the higher the stresses are, and the less the wall load carrying capacity is. When the percentage of the sum of the perforations’ areas to the wall total area surpasses 25%, the behavior of the shear wall converts to that of a frame. The study recommends that further future studies should be carried out on the effect of providing CFRP sheets on the edges of the openings, especially at lower stories in order to control concrete cracks at the edges of the perforations resulting from the developed large concrete equivalent stresses.