Shear strength prediction of reinforced concrete walls

Most of existing codes ignore the effect of arch action on shear strength of reinforced concrete (RC) walls, and it leads to more conservative results. A new model considering the influence of the truss and arch on shear strength of RC walls is proposed in this paper. The shear strength provided by the truss is obtained by the modified compression field theory, and the shear strength provided by the arch is obtained by the shear deformation coordination between the truss and arch, which has an upper bound value. Experimental data of 78 RC walls failed in shear are collected to evaluate the adequacy of the proposed method by comparing with the models of Hwang and Lee, Wood, ACI 318-11?, EC8, MCBC-04, and JGJ 3-2010, respectively. The results show that the average value and coefficient of variation of the experimental-to-calculated strength ratios obtained by the proposed model are 1.01 and 0.23, which shows better accuracy and reliability. Therefore, the proposed model can predict the shear strength of RC walls failed in shear accurately.