Al-Nahrain Journal for Engineering Sciences (NJES)
358-367
Special Issue - Proceedings of the 4th Eng. Conf. (21April 2016, Al-Nahrain Univ., Baghdad, IRAQ)
Comparative Study for Different Types of Shear Walls in
Buildings Subjected to Earthquake Loading
Muhammed Abbas Husain
Civil Eng. Dep.
University of Samarra
mhmdabbas@uosamarra.edu.iq
Abstract
Shear walls are effective structural elements
used mainly in multi-story buildings to provide
resistance against lateral loadings such as
earthquake and wind loadings. There are several
types and shapes of shear walls depending mainly
on geometry and height of the building. Both type
and shape of the shear wall affect the efficiency of
resisting lateral loadings. In this study, fifty six
building models have been analyzed using the
finite element method by using the SAP2000 V14
computer program. Each model have ten stories,
subjected to earthquake loadings, with various
numbers of bays, and with three types of shear
walls, namely: side shear walls, middle shear core,
and double shear cores, provided that each type of
the shear walls (or cores) has the same material
volume. The analysis outputs have been
investigated to select the appropriate type and
location of the shear walls (or cores) for the multi-
story buildings subjected to earthquake loadings.
Specified conclusions have been presented to
obtain the optimum behavior for the multi-story
buildings under the effects of earthquake loadings.
Keywords: Earthquake, optimum shear walls,
response spectrum.
1. Introduction
Shear walls are effective structural elements
used mainly in multi-story buildings to provide
adequate resistance against the lateral loadings
such as earthquake and wind loadings. Each
building is significantly influenced by the shape
and position of shear walls [1]. There are two
main arrangements of shear walls; the first one is
placed at the edges of the building which could be
in either plane or flanged shape. The second
arrangement is placed inside the building in the
shape of core walls or channel sections [2]. This
study will consider the sidewall (edge walls)
arrangement, middle core walls, and double core
walls arrangements at different positions as shown
in figure (1).
Regarding methods used for earthquake
analysis, there are several main approaches for
this analysis, namely: the equivalent static
358
Vol.20 No.2, 2017, pp.
Osamah Ibrahim Mahmood
Civil Eng. Dep.
University of Samarra
osamah.mahmood@uky.edu
analysis, response spectrum analysis, time history
analysis, nonlinear static analysis, and nonlinear
dynamic analysis .The present work will adopt
the response spectrum analysis method since it is
the most popular method used for analysis due to
the fact that it provides a simple and logical way
to define the earthquake loadings and economical
computational efforts. The response spectrum
analysis is considered as a dynamic linear
analysis.
The study of the effects of shear walls
locations and types in buildings subjected to
earthquake loadings are presented in different
approaches [2-4]. In this study, a new approach is
presented to obtain the optimum behavior of
buildings subjected to earthquake loading with
different types of shear walls and different
locations.
2. Description of Models
Ten - story reinforced concrete framed
buildings are assumed in this study. There are
nine different buildings which have been
considered and categorized according to the
number of bays in the X-direction (the
longitudinal direction) where, the first building
has two bays in the X-direction (2B), the second
building has three bays in the X-direction (3B),
the third building has four bays in the X-direction
(4B) and so on. All these buildings have two bays
in the Y-direction and all bays (in both X and Y-
direction) are of (5 m) span with story height of
(3 m).
For each building type, three different
arrangements of shear walls are studied: sidewall
system (SW), figure (1-b), middle-core system
(MC), figure (1-c), double-core at different
symmetric locations system (C1, C2, C3,.. etc.)
depending on the building width, figure (1-d,e,f).
Also a free-wall frame system (F) with no shear
walls has been studied, figure (1-a). Each shear
wall arrangement built using the same material
volume. The total number of models is fifty six.
The details of the column and beam sections, and
the dimensions of the three arrangements of shear
walls are shown in figure (2).
 NJES Vol.20, No.2, 2017 Husain & Mahmood, pp. 358-367
Special Issue - Proceedings of the 4th Eng. Conf. (21April 2016, Al-Nahrain Univ., Baghdad, IRAQ)

Figure (1-a): Figure (1-b): Figure (1-c):

Free-wall arrangement. Sidewall arrangement. Middle-core arrangement.

Figure (1-d): Figure (1-e): Figure (1-f):

Double-core (C3) arrangement. Double-core (C2) arrangement. Double-core (C1) arrangement.

Figure 1: Typical images for shear wall arrangements used in this study.

All buildings are modeled by using the finite
element method via computer program SAP2000
V14 [7]. Each building is assumed to be subjected
to the seismic loading according to the IBC 2006
[8].
Two nodes beam element has been selected to
represent the beams and columns in the buildings.
The beam element includes the effects of biaxial
bending, biaxial shear deformations, torsion, and
axial deformation. The walls in the buildings have
been represented by four nodes thick shell
element which includes the effect of transverse
shear, in addition to the effects of in – plane and
out of the plane rotational and translational
stiffness components , and combines both the
membrane and plate bending behavior.
The information for analysis used in this work is
as follows:
- The 0.2 sec. spectral acceleration Ss = 2.29
-The 1 sec. spectral acceleration S1= 0.869
- The long period transition period = 8
- Damping ratio = 0.05
- Site class = B (Rock).
- Site Coefficient Fa = 1
- Site Coefficient Fv = 1
- Modal combination: CQC (Complete Quadratic
Combination).
- Directional combination: SRSS (Square Root of
the Sum of Squares).
The Dynamic analysis based on modal
analysis in Eigen vectors mode type. Various
mode shapes have been investigated for the
models to choose the required number of these
shapes for the analysis. Due to the symmetry in
geometry of the buildings, and also due to the
specified approach adopted in this study, two
main mode shapes have been selected to represent
the behavior of such buildings. Typical mode
shapes for a typical building (model 4BDC2) is
shown in figure 3.

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 NJES Vol.20, No.2, 2017 Husain & Mahmood, pp. 358-367
Special Issue - Proceedings of the 4th Eng. Conf. (21April 2016, Al-Nahrain Univ., Baghdad, IRAQ)

Figure 2: Details of sections of the members and dimensions of the shear walls.

Figure 3: Mode shapes for a typical building (model 4BDC2).

3. Results and Discussion 3.1 Story Drift

After carrying out the analysis, three different
variables where examined to draw a conclusive
result. These variables are: the drift of the 10
story, the resultant shear base along the edge and
center line of the building, and the resultant
bending moment in columns of the ground story
along the edge and center line of each building.
Values of the story drift for all buildings are
plotted and shown in figure 4. The models have
been designated based on the number of bays in x
– direction, and the type of shear wall, e.g. 2BSW
means the model has two bays in x – direction
with side walls type.
It can be noticed that sidewall arrangement shows
the maximum reduction for story drift of the two-
bay and three- bay buildings, while the double-
core arrangement produces the maximum
reduction for the other building types.

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 NJES Vol.20, No.2, 2017 Husain & Mahmood, pp. 358-367
Special Issue - Proceedings of the 4th Eng. Conf. (21April 2016, Al-Nahrain Univ., Baghdad, IRAQ)

10
10 8

Story Level
6BC1
8 6
Story Level
6BC2
3BC1
6 4 6BC3
3BC2
4 2 6BSW
3BSW
2 0 6BMC
3BMC
0 0 5 10 6BF
3BF
0 5 10 Drifting (mm)
Drifting (mm)

10
7BC1
10 8

Story Level
7BC2
8 6
Story Level

7BC3
6 2BC1
4
7BC4
4 2BSW
2
7BSW
0
2 2BMC 7BMC
0 5 10
0 2BF 7BF
Drifting (mm)
0 5 10
Drifting (mm)
10 8BC1
Story Level

8BC2
10 5 8BC3
8 8BC4
Story Level

4BC1
6 0 8BSW
4BC2 0 5 10
4 8BMC
4BSW Drifting (mm)
2 8BF
4BMC
0
4BF
0 5 10
Drifting (mm) 10 9BC1
Story Level

8
9BC2
6
9BC3
4
10 2 9BC4
8 0
Story Level

5BC1 9BC5
6 5BC2 0 5 10 9BSW
4 5BC3 Drifting 9BMC
2 5BSW
0 5BMC
0 5 10 5BF 10
Story Level

Drifting (mm) 10BC1

10BC2
5
10BC3
10BC4
0
0 5 10 10BC5

Drifting (mm) 10BSW

Figure 4: Story vise drift for the models.

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 NJES Vol.20, No.2, 2017 Husain & Mahmood, pp. 358-367
Special Issue - Proceedings of the 4th Eng. Conf. (21April 2016, Al-Nahrain Univ., Baghdad, IRAQ)

3.2 Base Shear 3.3 Bending Moment

The resultant shear force at the edge and
center line (middle) of the ground story is
presented in figures (5 to 13). The maximum
shear forces are generated for the free-wall (F)
system, while the minimum forces occurred in the
sidewall (SW) system of the two-bay and three-
bay buildings. The double-core system recorded
the minimum shear force as compared with the
other building types.
The resultant bending moment at the edge
and center line (middle) of the ground story is
presented in figures (14 to 22). The maximum
value of the resultant bending moment is seen in
the free-wall (F) system and the minimum
resultant bending moment occurred in the
sidewall (SW) system of the two-bay and three-
bay buildings, while the double-core arrangement
recorded the minimum bending moment as
compared with the other building types.

60
Shear Force (kN)

50
40 Edge
30
20
10 Middle
0
2BC1 2BSW 2BMC 2BF
Arrangement Type

Figure 5: Shear force (kN) computed in the ground story for the two-bay building.

60
Shear Force (kN)

50
40
30
Edge
20
10 Middle
0
3BC1 3BC2 3BSW 3BMC 3BF
Arrangement Type

Figure 6: Shear force (kN) computed in the ground story for the Three-bay building.

50
Shear Force (kN)

40
30
20 Edge
10 Middle
0
4BC1 4BC2 4BSW 4BMC 4BF
Arrangement Type

Figure 7: Shear force (kN) computed in the ground story for the Four-bay building.

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 NJES Vol.20, No.2, 2017 Husain & Mahmood, pp. 358-367
Special Issue - Proceedings of the 4th Eng. Conf. (21April 2016, Al-Nahrain Univ., Baghdad, IRAQ)

50

Shear Force (kN)

40
30
20 Edge
10 Middle
0
5BC1 5BC2 5BC3 5BSW 5BMC 5BF
Arrangement Type

Figure 8: Shear force (kN) computed in the ground story for the Five-bay building.

50
Shear Force (kN)

40
30
20 Edge
10 Middle
0
6BC1 6BC2 6BC3 6BSW 6BMC 6BF
Arrangement Type

Figure 9: Shear force (kN) computed in the ground story for the six-bay building.

40
Shear Force (kN)

30

20
Edge
10 Middle
0
7BC1 7BC2 7BC3 7BC4 7BSW 7BMC 7BF
Arrangement Type

Figure 10: Shear force (kN) computed in the ground story for the seven-bay building.

40
Shear Force (kN)

30

20
Edge
10 Middle
0
8BC1 8BC2 8BC3 8BC4 8BSW BMC 8BF
Arrangemet Type

Figure 11: Shear force (kN) computed in the ground story for the eight-bay building.

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 NJES Vol.20, No.2, 2017 Husain & Mahmood, pp. 358-367
Special Issue - Proceedings of the 4th Eng. Conf. (21April 2016, Al-Nahrain Univ., Baghdad, IRAQ)

40

Shear Force (kN) 30

20
Edge
10 Middle
0
9BC1 9BC2 9BC3 9BC4 9BC5 9BSW 9BMC 9BF
Arragement Type

Figure 12: Shear force (kN) computed in the ground story for the nine-bay building.

50
Shear Force (k)

40
30
20 Edge
10 Middle
0
10BC1 10BC2 10BC3 10BC4 10BC5 10BSW 10BMC 10BF
Arrangement Type

Figure 13: Shear force (kN) computed in the ground story for the ten-bay building.

70
Bending Moment (kN.m)

60
50 Edge
40
30
20
10 Middle
0
2BC1 2BSW 2BMC 2BF
Arrangement Type

Figure 14: Bending moment (kN.m) computed in the ground story for the two-bay building.

70
Bending Moment (kN.m)

60
50
40
30 Edge
20
Middle
10
0
3BC1 3BC2 3BSW 3BMC 3BF
Arrangement Type

Figure 15: Bending moment (kN.m) computed in the ground story for the three-bay building.

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 NJES Vol.20, No.2, 2017 Husain & Mahmood, pp. 358-367
Special Issue - Proceedings of the 4th Eng. Conf. (21April 2016, Al-Nahrain Univ., Baghdad, IRAQ)

80

Bending Moment (kN.m) 60

40
Edge
20 Middle
0
4BC1 4BC2 4BSW 4BMC 4BF
Arrangement Type

Figure 16: Bending moment (kN.m) computed in the ground story for the four-bay building.

70
Bending Moment (kN.m)

60
50
40
30 Edge
20
Middle
10
0
5BC1 5BC2 5BC3 5BSW 5BMC 5BF
Arrangement Type

Figure 17: Bending moment (kN.m) computed in the ground story for the five-bay building.

80
Bending Moment (kN.m)

60

40
Edge
20 Middle
0
6BC1 6BC2 6BC3 6BSW 6BMC 6BF
Arrangement Type

Figure 18: Bending moment (kN.m) computed in the ground story for the six-bay building.

100
Bedig Moment (kN.m)

80
60
40 Edge
20 Middle
0
7BC1 7BC2 7BC3 7BC4 7BSW 7BMC 7BF
Arrangement Type

Figure 19: Bending moment (kN.m) computed in the ground story for the seven-bay building.

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 NJES Vol.20, No.2, 2017 Husain & Mahmood, pp. 358-367
Special Issue - Proceedings of the 4th Eng. Conf. (21April 2016, Al-Nahrain Univ., Baghdad, IRAQ)

100

Bending Moment (kN.m)

80
60
40 Edge
20 Middle
0
8BC1 8BC2 8BC3 8BC4 8BSW BMC 8BF
Arrangement Type

Figure 20: Bending moment (kN.m) computed in the ground story for the eight-bay building.

100
Bending Moment (kN.m)

80
60
40 Edge
20 Middle
0
9BC1 9BC2 9BC3 9BC4 9BC5 9BSW 9BMC 9BF
Arrangement Type

Figure 21: Bending moment (kN.m) computed in the ground story for the nine-bay building.

120
Bending Moment (kN.m)

100
80
60
Edge
40
20 Middle
0
10BC1 10BC2 10BC3 10BC4 10BC5 10BSW 10BMC 10BF
Arrangement Type

Figure 22: Bending moment (kN.m) computed in the ground story for the ten-bay building.

Conclusions floor bending moment occurred with

The following conclusions are obtained from
this work:
1- Seismic load resisting capacity of the frame
building is significantly improved in the
presence of shear walls as is clear from the
story drift, base shear resultant, and bending
moment when comparing the free-wall
arrangement with the other arrangements.
2- Sidewalls arrangement is considered to be
the best option for buildings with length (in
the X-direction) less than or equals to 20 m
since it has been recorded that the least
values of drifting, base shear, and ground
reduction percent ranging between (80-
98)%.
3- Double-core shear wall arrangement is
considered the best option for buildings with
length (in the X-direction) of greater than
20m.
4- Since the double core arrangement has
more than one case, it has been concluded
that placing the core at a distance (a),
measured from the center of the core to the
edge of the building, would give the
minimum values for drifting, base shear, and
ground floor bending moment when the ratio
(a/b) is about 0.75, in which (b) is the

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Special Issue - Proceedings of the 4th Eng. Conf. (21April 2016, Al-Nahrain Univ., Baghdad, IRAQ)

distance from the center of the core to the
center line of the building, as shown in figure
23.
a b
1Figure 23: Optimum location of the
double-core shear wall arrangement (a/b is
about 0.75).
References
1- Nilson A., Darwin D., Dolan C., (2014),
“Design of Concrete Structures”, 14th Edition,
USA, McGrow Hill, p.787.
2- Behruyan M., Mohammadi M., (2014), “Study
of Shear Wall with Circular Core Compared To
Conventional Shear Wall”, World Applied
Programming, Volume 4, Issue 1. PP. (42-49).
3- Shahzad J. S., Umesh. N. K., (2013), “ Effect
of change in Shear Wall location on Story Drift of
Multistory Building Subjected to Lateral Loads”,
IJIRSET, Volume 2, Issue 9 .
4- Hiremath G.S, Hussain M.S., (2014), “Effect
of Change in Shear Wall Location with Uniform
and Varying Thickness in High Rise Building”,
IJSR, Volume 3, Issue 10.
5- Berrah M., Kausel E., (1992), “Response
spectrum analysis of structures subjected to
spatially varying motions, Earthquake
Engineering & Structural Dynamics”, Volume 21,
Issue 6, PP. (461–470).
6- Venkata S. K., (2013), “Influence of
Reinforced Concrete Shear Wall on Multistory
Buildings”, IJESRT, Volume 4, Issue 5.
7- CSI Analysis Reference Manual for SAP2000.
Berkeley ,USA, 2009.
8- International Code Council Inc. "International
Building Code", 200

‫دراﺳﺔ ﻣﻘﺎرﻧﺔ ﻷﻧواع ﻣﺧﺗﻠﻔﺔ ﻣن ﺟدران اﻟﻘص ﻓﻲ اﻟﺑﻧﺎﯾﺎت اﻟﻣﻌرﺿﺔ اﻟﻰ أﺣﻣﺎل‬
‫اﻟﮭزات اﻷرﺿﯾﺔ‬
‫اﺳﺎﻣﺔ اﺑﺮاھﯿﻢ ﻣﺤﻤﻮد‬ ‫ﻣﺤﻤﺪ ﻋﺒﺎس ﺣﺴﯿﻦ‬
‫ﻗﺴﻢ اﻟﮭﻨﺪﺳﺔ اﻟﻤﺪﻧﯿﺔ‬ ‫ﻗﺳم اﻟﮭﻧدﺳﺔ اﻟﻣدﻧﯾﺔ‬
‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ ﺳﺎﻣﺮاء‬ ‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ ﺳﺎﻣراء‬

‫اﻟﺧﻼﺻﺔ‬
‫ ﺣﯾث ﺗﺳﺗﺧدم ﺑﺷﻛل رﺋﯾﺳﻲ ﻓﻲ اﻟﺑﻧﺎﯾﺎت اﻟﻣﺗﻌددة اﻟطواﺑق‬,‫ﺗﻌﺗﺑر ﺟدران اﻟﻘص ﻣن اﻟﻌﻧﺎﺻر اﻻﻧﺷﺎﺋﯾﺔ اﻟﻔﻌﺎﻟﺔ‬
‫ ھﻧﺎﻟك ﻋدة أﻧواع وﻋدة أﺷﻛﺎل‬.‫ﻟﺗوﻓﯾر ﻣﻘﺎوﻣﺔ ﺿد اﻷﺣﻣﺎل اﻟﺟﺎﻧﺑﯾﺔ ﻣﺛل أﺣﻣﺎل اﻟﮭزات اﻻرﺿﯾﺔ وأﺣﻣﺎل اﻟرﯾﺎح‬
‫ إن ﻛﻼً ﻣن ﻧوع وﺷﻛل ﺟدار اﻟﻘص ﯾؤﺛر ﻓﻲ ﻛﻔﺎءة‬.‫ﻟﺟدران اﻟﻘص ﺗﻌﺗﻣد ﺑﺷﻛل رﺋﯾﺳﻲ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺷﻛل وارﺗﻔﺎع اﻟﺑﻧﺎﯾﺔ‬
‫ ﻓﻲ ھذه اﻟدراﺳﺔ ﺗم ﺗﺣﻠﯾل ﺳت وﺧﻣﺳون ﻧﻣوذﺟﺎ ً ﻣن اﻷﺑﻧﯾﺔ ﺑﺎﺳﺗﺧدام طرﯾﻘﺔ اﻟﻌﻧﺎﺻر‬.‫ﻣﻘﺎوﻣﺔ اﻷﺣﻣﺎل اﻟﺟﺎﻧﺑﯾﺔ‬
‫ ﻣﻌرض اﻟﻰ أﺣﻣﺎل‬,‫ ﻛل ﻧﻣوذج ﻣؤﻟف ﻣن ﻋﺷرة طواﺑق‬.‫ اﻟﻧﺳﺧﺔ اﻟراﺑﻌﺔ ﻋﺷر‬SAP2000 ‫اﻟﻣﺣددة ﺑواﺳطﺔ ﺑرﻧﺎﻣﺞ‬
‫ ﻟب ﻗص‬,‫ ﺟدران ﻗص ﺟﺎﻧﺑﯾﺔ‬: ‫ وﺑﺛﻼﺛﺔ اﻧواع ﻣن ﺟدران اﻟﻘص ھﻲ‬,‫ وﺑﺄﻋداد ﻣﺧﺗﻠﻔﺔ ﻣن اﻟﻣﺟﺎﻻت‬,‫اﻟﮭزات اﻷرﺿﯾﺔ‬
‫ ﺗﻣت دراﺳﺔ ﻧﺗﺎﺋﺞ اﻟﺗﺣﻠﯾل‬.‫ وﺑﻧﻔس ﺣﺟم اﻟﻣﺎدة اﻻﻧﺷﺎﺋﯾﺔ ﻟﻛل ﻧوع ﻣن ھذه اﻷﻧواع اﻟﺛﻼﺛﺔ‬,‫ وﻟﺑﯾن ﻣزدوﺟﯾن‬, ‫وﺳطﻲ‬
‫ وﺗم ﺗﻘدﯾم اﺳﺗﻧﺗﺎﺟﺎت ﻣﺣددة ﻟﻠﺣﺻول ﻋﻠﻰ اﻟﺳﻠوك اﻷﻣﺛل‬, ‫ﻻﺧﺗﯾﺎر اﻟﻧوع اﻟﻣﻧﺎﺳب واﻟﻣوﻗﻊ اﻟﻣﻧﺎﺳب ﻟﺟدران اﻟﻘص‬
.‫ﻟﻸﺑﻧﯾﺔ اﻟﻣﺗﻌددة اﻟطواﺑق ﺗﺣت ﺗﺄﺛﯾر أﺣﻣﺎل اﻟﮭزات اﻷرﺿﯾﺔ‬

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