An elastic-plastic analysis of short-leg shear wall structures during earthquakes

Short-leg shear wall structures are a new form of building structure that combine the merits of both frame and shear wall structures. Its architectural features, structure bearing and engineering cost are reasonable. To analyze the elastic-plastic response of a short-leg shear wall structure during an earthquake, this study modified the multiple-vertical-rod element model of the shear wall, considered the shear lag effect and proposed a multiple-vertical-rod element coupling beam model with a new local stiffness domain. Based on the principle of minimum potential energy and the variational principle, the stiffness matrixes of a short-leg shear wall and a coupling beam are derived in this study. Furthermore, the bending shear correlation for the analysis of different parameters to describe the structure, such as the beam height to span ratio, short-leg shear wall height to thickness ratio, and steel ratio are introduced. The results show that the height to span ratio directly affects the structural integrity; and the short-leg shear wall height to thickness ratio should be limited to a range of approximately 6.0 to 7.0. The design of short-leg shear walls should be in accordance with the “strong wall and weak beam” principle.