Simplified Shear Strength Model of Reinforced Concrete Walls

Abstract

This study developed a simplified shear strength model considering the properties of the walls: uniformly distributed web reinforce-ment and boundary elements. Based on an existing compression zone failure mechanism model, the concrete shear strength of a wall was defined as a function of the compression zone depth and the diagonal tension strength of concrete. For practical imple-mentation, the proposed design equation was further simplified to transfer the effect of the compression zone to the average vertical reinforcement ratio, which is similar to the one-way shear strength equation in ACI 318-19. The permissible maximum shear strength was also developed based on the effective compressive strength of the diagonal concrete strut. For evaluation, the proposed shear strength model was applied to existing test specimens. The predic-tion results agreed with the tested strengths in wide ranges of wall design parameters.