Abstract
Ultimate strength of multi-storied RC shear walls is analyzed based on the concept of a diagonal compression field. In this theory it is assumed that shear walls resist to external forces with the co-operation of "beam" and "arch" mechanism. The flexural behavior of multi-storied shear walls under earthquake loading is the combination of bending and shear mode, and the moment pattern of them differ considerbly from that of beam-columns of moment frames the behavior of which is dominated by shear mode, and the theoretical analysis of which was presented by writers previously. In this paper, some modification are made to writers analytical model for beam-columns to reflect the mentioned difference of moment pattern for shear walls. Using this modified model, the ultimate strength of shear walls is analyzed, and the parameters such as shear reinforcement ratio, concrete strength, moment pattern, axialforce and etc which affect the ultimate strength are examined. Though this theory is simple and ultimate strength is calculated using few parameters such as dimensions of the shear wall and uniaxial strength of the concrete and the steel, the correlation between this theory and test results of more than 170 specimens is satisfactory.
