Walls are built to partition living area into different parts.

They impart privacy

and protection against temperature, rain and theft. Walls may be classified as
1. Load bearing walls
2. Partition walls
1. Load Bearing Walls: If beams and columns are not used, load from roof and floors
are transferred to foundation by walls. Such walls are called load bearing walls.
They are to be designed to transfer the load safely. The critical portion of the
walls are near the openings of doors and windows and the positions where concrete
beams rest.
Minimum wall thickness used is 200 mm. It is also recommended that the slenderness
ratio of wall defined as ratio of effective length or effective height to thickness
should not be more than 27. The effective height and effective length of a wall may
be taken as shown in tables 8.2 and 8.3 respectively.