AN ALGORITHM FOR SEISMIC ANALYSIS OF LOW-RISE STRUCTURAL WALLS

Although structures with elastic response are fairly well understood, structures with inelastic response are more difficult to analyze. Furthermore, in studies of inelastic response, attention has generally been paid to the flexural response of reinforced concrete structures with relatively little attention being given to shear response. In this paper, an algorithm is described for computing the shear force-deflection relationship for orthogonally reinforced concrete low-rise structural walls. In this situation, the inelastic response relationship forms hysteresis loops which depend on the cracking shear force and direction of wall movement in addition to the loading history, so an algorithm which accounts for the continually varying stiffness and energy absorbing characteristics of such walls is needed. This algorithm is used together with the linear step-by-step method for numerically solving differential equations to analyze low rise structural walls during a seismic disturbance. This combination forms a useful tool for predicting the seismic response of low-rise structural walls. Using this tool, two examples are analyzed: a single shearwall in which cracking occurs and a shearwall which interacts seismically with a steel structure.