Stresses and deflections of intermediate height shearwalls with rectangular openings

The inherent superiority of shearwalls, as the chief lateral load resisting elements in tall building, cannot be overemphasised; and a considerable amount of work has been done on the analysis of shearwall structures, in the last two decades. However, most of the work done so far has been devoted to either single storey shearwalls, or considerably tall shearwall buildings. It was felt, that the theoretical solutions obtained for tall shearwalls, may not be applicable to walls of intermediate height, i.e. two or three stories. Hence the present research project was undertaken, involving a number of carefully controlled and organised sets of experiments. Photoelasticity was used in general, and very interesting results were obtained. These have been presented in the form of design charts and curves, to make them readily applicable in the design office.