Design of Structural

Walls/Shear Walls
Dr Bijily Balakrishnan
 Introduction
Types of walls
• Bearing wall – Supports vertical loads exceeding 0.08fckAg and
moments about a horizontal axis in the plane of the wall (weak
axis bending) and associated shear
• Non-bearing wall – Supports vertical loads < 0.08fckAg and, in
some cases, moment about the weak axis as well.
• Shear wall / Structural wall – Assembly of interconnected walls
forming part of the lateral-load-resisting system of a structure.
They support vertical loads, moments about horizontal axes
perpendicular to the plane of the wall (strong axis bending) and
shear forces acting parallel to the plane of the wall. Weak axis
bending may also be present.

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Wall design procedure
Weak axis bending
Location of Shear Walls
Location of Shear Walls
 Typical Plans

Burj Khalifa, Dubai

Shear Walls
Lateral Deflections
 Interstorey Drift

1 2
 Interstorey Drift

24

21

18
Height (m)

15 2 1
12

0 0.08 0.16 0.24 0.32 0.40 Drift (%)

Structural Walls
Structural Walls
 Structural Walls
• Structural Walls
• The minimum thickness of shear walls shall not be less than, (as per IS456)
• 150 mm
• 300 mm for buildings with coupled shear walls

• Minimum ratio of length of wall to its thickness 4 (IS 13920, cl. 10.1.3)
• Shear walls classification depending on the overall height hw to length Lw ratio
(cl. 10.1.4)
• Squat walls: hw / Lw < 1
• Intermediate walls: 1 ≤ hw / Lw ≤ 2
• Slender walls: hw / Lw > 2
• In flanged wall, part of flange beyond face of web shall be considered: smaller
of (cl. 10.1.5)
• Actual width
• Half distance to an adjacent shear wall web
• 1/10 of floor-to-floor wall height
 Structural Walls
• Provide with uniformly spaced reinforcement in its cross-section
along vertical and horizontal directions (clause 10.1.6)
Sl. Type of wall Reinforcement details
No.
i) Squat walls   h min
 0.0025
 h 
  v min
 0.0025  0.5  1  w   h  0.0025 
 tw 
t 
 v ,net    v ,web    Lw  0.02  2.5  v ,web 
 w
  v provided
  h  provided

ii) Intermediate walls   h min

 0.0025
  v ,be min
 0.0080
  v ,web min
 0.0025
t 
  v ,net
 0.0025  0.01375  w 
 Lw 
min

iii) Slender walls h 

  h
 0.0025  0.5  w  2   v  0.0025 
min
 Lw 
 v ,be min  0.0080
 v ,web min
 0.0025
t 
  v ,net
 0.0025  0.01375  w 
 Lw 
min
 Structural Walls
• Provide reinforcement in two curtains, if (clause 10.1.7)
• Factored shear stress exceeds 0.25 √fck
• Wall thickness exceeds 200 mm
• Design for shear force (clause 10.2.1)
• Nominal shear stress demand τv

Vu
v 
tw dw

where, Vu = factored shear force

tw = thickness of the web
dw = effective depth (0.8Lw for rectangular sections)
 Structural Walls
• Nominal shear stress demand τv (cl. 10.2.3)
• If shear stress > τc,max of concrete (Table 20 of IS 456) shall re-
designed.
• If shear stress > τc, and < τc,max, horizontal shear reinforcement shall
be provided of area Ah

Vus Vu   c tw dw
Ah  
d  d 
0.87fy   0.87fy  
 sv int egral  sv int egral

• If shear stress < τc, horizontal shear reinforcement shall be

minimum area of horizontal steel as per 10.1.5
 Boundary elements
(Cl. 10.4, IS 13920)

• Boundary elements are also required if extreme fiber compressive stress

due to factored gravity and earthquake load exceeds 0.2fck
• Boundary elements may be discontinued if stress becomes less than 0.15fck
• Factored gravity load shall be taken as 0.8
• Vertical reinforcement > 0.8 % and < 6 % ; practical upper limit 4% to avoid
congestion.
• Special confining reinforcement throughout their height
fck
Ash  0.05sv h
fy
• Spacing not more than
• 1/3rd of minimum member dimension
• 6d of smallest longitudinal reinforcement bars
• 100 mm to 150 mm, if maximum distance between cross-ties/parallel legs
of links or ties is limited to 200 mm
 Design of Structural Wall
• Design a slender structural wall to resist the given loads
Axial load Moment Shear force
Load case
(kN) (kNm) (kN)
Gravity (DL +LL) 2500 75 75
Lateral (WL / EQ) 250 4250 1000

• Assume, Thickness = 300 mm, Length = 4500 mm (use M30 concrete & Fe500 steel)
• Factored Axial Load
Case 1 – (IS 456:2000)
Pmax = 1.2 (DL + LL) + 1.2 EQ / WL
= 1.2 (2500) + 1.2 × 250 = 3300 kN
Case 2 – (IS 13920:2016 cl. 10.4.2.1)
Pmin = 0.8 (DL + LL) + 1.2 EQ / WL
= 0.8 (2500) + 1.2 × 250 = 2300 kN
Factored moment = 1.2 × 75 + 1.2 × 4250 = 5195 kNm
Factored shear force = 1.2 × 75 + 1.2 × 1000 = 1290 kN
• Check for need of BE (boundary element)
tw L3 300  45003
I   2.278  1012 mm4
12 12
A  tw L  300  4500  135  10 4 mm2
I 2.278  1012
Z = =1.013  109 mm3
y 2250 300 mm

P M 1200 mm 2100 mm 1200 mm

fc ,max  
A Z
3300  103 5195  10 6
   7.57 MPa
135  10 4 1.013  109
P M
fc ,min  
A Z
3300  103 5195  10 6
   2.68 MPa
135  10 4 1.013  109

• fc,lim = 0.2 × fck = 0.2 × 30 = 6.0 MPa

fc,max > fc,lim Hence, boundary element needed.
To be extended till fc = 0.15 fck = 4.5 MPa
Using similar triangles length is found to be 1177 mm.
Hence provide boundary element of 1200 mm
Moment Capacity of Rectangular Shear Wall
without Boundary Element
Exact Procedure
Exact Procedure
 Exact Procedure

Pu
 0.032
fck bw L
Mu
 0.029
fck bw L2
 Shear Design
Vu 1290  103
v    1.19 N/mm2
tw  0.8  L 300  0.8  4500

 v ,lim it  0.25  fck  0.25  30  1.37 N/mm2

• v < v,limit but thickness > 200 mm, hence steel to be provided in 2 layers
• Reinforcement
Assuming minimum steel is 0.25% of Ag
Ast required per meter = 0.0025 × 1000 × 300 = 750 mm2
Ast required per meter in one layer = 375 mm2
Provide 10 ϕ at 200 mm c/c spacing (both vertical and horizontal)
Ast provided = 785 mm2
pt provided = 0.26 %
• Shear resisted by concrete
c = 0.37 Mpa (Table 19, IS 456)
c,max = 3.40 Mpa (Table 20, IS 456)
Vus = (v − c ) tw × 1000 = 245.39 kN
Asv / sv = 0.679
Provide Asv / sv = 3.92, Hence safe in shear
 Detailing

n-Ø 8Ø @ 200 c/c

300 mm

4500 mm
• Confinement Reinforcement

30
Ash  0.05  100  255   92mm2
415

Provide 12 mm dia bars at 100 mm c/c as confinement reinforcement

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Thank you