Nonlinear finite element analysis of reinforced concrete shear walls

This paper deals with a fundamental issue for tall buildings safety: the structural analysis of reinforced concrete shear-walls that resist lateral loads. For two shear walls (simple planar and U-shaped), the results determined according to the Brazilian design code approximate procedure (NBR-6118:2014) and the grid method (CAD/TQS), presented in the literature, are compared with material and geometrically nonlinear finite shell element analysis (NL-FEA), performed by the software VecTor 4, based on the modified compression field theory (MCFT). In both cases NL-FEA analyses, besides the large computational cost, it was observed the significant influence of stress redistribution, and the Saint-Venant’s principle, on the vertical normal stresses, and the consequent smoothing of the second order localized effects on the shear walls.

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