Design of shear walls for seismic resistance

Abstract

Ductile coupled shear walls, ductile cantilever shear walls, and less ductile "category 6" shear walls comprise three basic shear wall types included in categories 3, 4, 5 and 6 of Table 5 of the earthquake provisions of the New Zealand Loadings Code. Seismic resistance of these shear wall types, when fully cracked with reinforcement at or near yield where applicable, is discussed relative to code provisions. Reinforcement requirements are outlined, using capacity design criteria for ductile walls, and load-factor methods for "category 6" shear walls requiring distributed vertical and horizontal reinforcement to control cracking.