Interaction of sliding, shear and flexure in the seismic response of squat reinforced concrete shear walls

Flexural and Shear Deformation of Basement-Clamped Reinforced Concrete Shear Walls

“…RC shear walls are one of the most effective structural elements for stabilising structures against horizontal earthquake actions. Several shear wall experiments have been carried out and numerous different effects studied in the last 30 years: Load deformation behaviour/curvature distribution/crack pattern [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]; strain penetration/anchorage slip/lap splicing [11,12]; tension shift [13]; and squat walls/sliding shear [14][15][16][17][18][19], with only a few mentioned here. Most experiments on RC shear walls are on cantilever walls; however, walls in building construction are often clamped into the basement and then also consist of a clamping wall section.…”

“…The shorter the clamping length, the greater the shear force. e.g., earthquakes in Chile caused a sliding shear failure under basement ceilings [17]. In Figure 1, it is sketched how a stiffening shear wall is clamped into the basement.…”