lntroJuction: Reinorced concrete ,RC, structural walls are ertical plate-like elements starting

rom the oundation leel and going up through the entire height o a structure ,Slide below,.
During strong earthquake shaking o multistoreyed buildings, walls absorb the large horizontal
shear orces at dierent loor leels and help in transerring orces to the soil below ,slide below,.
1hey also reduce lateral deormation leels o the building, leading to less nonstructural damage.
Under lateral loading, stress distribution and low o orces in the end-regions o wall get irregular
leading to ormation o Dregiov or disturbed region ,slide below,. 1he other region is characterized
by uniorm lowo orces, and is known as regiov or Bernoulli region.
Slender walls are those walls which hae aspect ratio more than about 2.0 |Penelis and Kappos,
199|, where and are the height and length o wall, these walls are characterized by lexure-
dominated behaiour. During earthquake shaking, design and detailing o slender walls ensure
energy dissipation at the base o wall through yielding o ertical reinorcement, this is also known
as ormation o pta.tic bivge.. 1he actual lexural strength , generated during ormation o
plastic hinge, results in a horizontal shear orce ,slide on next page,.


Kaustubh Dasgupta
Department oI Civil Engineering

Seismic Design of Slender Reinforced Concrete Structural Walls
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Current design practice considers the critical section or hinge ormation or possible shear ailure to
be at the junction o wall and ooting ,the slide aboe,. Obsered ailures o RC walls in past
earthquakes suggest that plastic hinge action takes place oer a region ,extensie cracking o
concrete and yielding o steel,. Shear ailure o RC walls can also occur in ie dierent modes
namely, ,a, shear ailure rom plastic hinge action, ,b, crushing due to diagonal compression, ,c,
tensile ailure o ertical steel, ,d, crushing o concrete due to ertical compression, and ,e, sliding
shear ailure along horizontal cracks |Paulay and Priestley, 1992|. Also, the re-entrant corner at wall-
ooting junction initiates damages in the ooting, leading to costly excaation and repair ater eery
earthquake.

In the present study, a structural wall rom a ie-storeyed building with symmetric plan
coniguration ,the slide aboe, is considered. Linear and curilinear tapered ,second degree cure,
conigurations are considered or the same height o taper. Linear elastic inite element analysis is
carried out using SAP2000 program |CSI, 2006|. 8-noded solid elements are used or discretisation
o wall and ooting. 1he grade o concrete is taken as M25. 1wo cases o soils contact are
inestigated, namely ,a, ull contact, and ,b, partial contact o ooting. Soil stiness is modeled using
equialent ertical and horizontal springs. 1hree types o soil with dierent moduli o subgrade
reactions are considered, namely ,a, loose sand ,b, dense sand and ,c,
rocks |Das, 2004|. lor analysis cases with uplit o wall-ootings, gap elements
with zero tension capacity characteristics, are usedas soil springs.
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- ConcepluaI Design

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Inluence o soil lexibility on column ooting response is illustrated by ertical shear stress
contours ,the slide aboe, in lexible soil, increased deormations cause seere stress concentrations
at the bottom o column, whereas rocks cause the column-ooting to behae as a rigid body. looting
lexibility depends on ,a, ooting thickness, ,b, length o oerhang, and ,c, in-plane member
lexibility. \alls hae higher in-plane stiness than columns due to increased depth o members.
lor the integrated wall-ooting system, absence o lexible ooting oerhang changes the behaiour
similar to that o a rigid-block response. 1his results in reduced shear stress leels at the bottom o
ooting, as eident or both linear and curilinear tapers ,the slide aboe,.

1he stresses reduce with increasing height o taper also. lor both ull contact and partial contact
cases, curilinear tapered wall gies the most aourable shear stress distribution ,the slide aboe,.
1he intended region o damage in RC walls is the area o D-region aboe the starting section o
taper. 1hus, the intended location o damage is controlled by changing the height o taper ,the slide
aboe,. Shiting o damage region in wall aboe ground leel helps in elimination o ooting
damage. lurther parametric studies need to be carried out to obtain the desired behaiour o wall-
ooting system.


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Conclusion:
Reised design procedure or wall-ooting system
Reference:
1. Penelis, G.,G., and Kappos,A.,J.. Larthquake Resistant Concrete Structures, LP & lN SPON,
London, 199.
2. Paulay, 1. and Priestley, M.J.N.. Seismic Design o Reinorced Concrete and Masonry Buildings.
John \iley and Sons Inc., New\ork, 1992.
3. CSI. SAP2000: Integrated linite Llement analysis and Design o Structures, Computers and
Structures Inc., Caliornia, USA, 2006.
4. Das, B.,M.. Prinicples o loundation Lngineering, Brooks,Cole, lith Ldition, 2004.
Comments: a, RLACl Symposium 200 was ery well organised with excellent acilities or technical and
nontechnical interactions. Selection o themes was ery appropriate, and the diersity in research was aptly
highlighted.
,b, Some o the presentations were too specialised on the respectie topics. All the topics should be presented
in such a way that people rom other disciplines can also grasp the basics.
,c, Lening sessions should hae more ideo presentations rom industry or on collaboratie research
work done elsewhere.
- Damage moed to predetermined location aboe ground
- looting saed rom inelastic action
- No repair ater an earthquake
-
- Critical in or rocky sites