Abstract:
This research presents the study of analytical results of various types of shear walls with openings, i.e., shear walls with a single row of openings, two rows of openings and shear walls with different width over the height. Moreover, the effect of the openings and the effect of differential settlement of foundation are taken into account. The analysis is performed by idealizing shear walls as, frames. Both shear deformation and the rigid end part of members are considered in the analysis„ The analysis is performed on a microcomputer program developed in Applesoft BASIC by using the frontal method for solution. The analytical results are compared with finite element solution and experimental results in order to check the accuracy. The results from the frame method show that the lateral deflections at the top are somewhat different but the stresses at the base are accurate, however the stresses at the upper part of shear walls have error of 20 - 50 % but they are relatively small compared to the maximum stresses at the base. The results show that the behavior of the shear walls with a small single row of openings do not close to a normal shear walls without openings, especially the stresses in the two walls at the base and in the case that the opening width is equal or less than half of the shear wall width the behavior of the structure is not similar to that of rigid frame. The position of the openings have an effect on the analysis by shear connection method where λ_2< 5, and have no effect on the analysis by using rigid frame methods Considering the settlement of foundation of the shear walls with openings it it shown that the stresses and shear forces are depending upon the ratio of the settlement to the distance between centroidal axes of the two walls, ∆/φ , the ratio of openings width to the width of the shear walls, S, and the ratio of wall stiffness to beam stiffness, λ_2 but not depending on the height of the shear walls.