06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

Design of RC Columns
v Column under Bi-Axial Bending

Concrete Design Handbook

Cement Association of Canada

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

Example #2
Consider the interior column shown with a clear height of 5500 mm supporting a flat
slab floors. This column is part of frame structure that is fully supported against lateral
drift. The column is subjected to the given Factored axial load including 1000 kN
factored dead load, un-factored moments and factored shear forces.
The column has a cross section of 350 mm x 600 mm. Determine whether the given cross
section is adequate and confirms to CSA/A23.3-04 provisions and calculate the required
reinforcement.

Consider:
G40 steel reinforcing bars, 30 MPa normal-density concrete, #10M ties and 2 hours
fire rating

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

2. Reinforced Concrete Walls

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

2. Reinforced Concrete Walls

v RC Walls are vertical members used to enclose or separate spaces,
v Structural RC walls are designed to resist combinations of shear, moment and axial
forces,
v According to CSA/A23.3, Clause 2.2, Wall is a vertical element in which:

lw 6 t w
lw hw / 3

Where:
lw = Horizontal length of the wall
hw = vertical length height of the wall
tw = Thickness of the wall.

v Walls can be design to resist the following loads:

1- Gravity loads,
2- Lateral in-plane loads
3- Lateral out-plane loads

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

Reinforced Concrete Walls

vTypes of RC Walls:
1- Bearing Wall:

a wall that supports:

1- factored in-plane vertical loads that is 0.10 f c` Ag ,w ,

2- weak axis moments about a horizontal axis in the plane of the wall,
3- the shear force necessary to equilibrate that moment.
1.1- Non-bearing Wall:
1- factored in-plane vertical loads that is 0.10 f c` Ag ,w ,
2- weak axis moments about a horizontal axis in the plane of the wall,
3- the shear force necessary to equilibrate that moment.

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

Reinforced Concrete Walls

vTypes of RC Walls:
2- Shear Wall:
a wall or an assembly of inter-connected walls which considered part of the lateral load
resisting system of a structure. Shear walls support:

1- vertical load,
2- moments about horizontal axes perpendicular to the plane of the wall strong axis of wall,
3- shear force acting parallel to the plane of the wall,
4- weak axis bending also can be present.

2.1 Flexural-shear Wall:

a shear wall that resist in-plane lateral loads by flexural action

when hw above the section of maximum moment is greater than 2lw

2.2 Squat shear wall

when hw above the section of maximum moment is less than 2lw

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

Design of RC Bearing Walls

vDesign of RC Bearing Walls:

CSA/A23.3-04 Empirical Method (C1.14.2.)

Pr

2
3

`
1 c c

f Ag 1

khu
32t

The empirical can be used when all the following conditions have been met:
1- The wall has a solid rectangular cross section that is constant along the wall height,
2- The principal moments act about the weak axis,
3- The eccentricity of all the axial loads is located within the middle third of the thickness,
4- The wall is supported against lateral displacement along at least the bottom and top edges.
4.1: when walls and other bracing elements are arranged in two directions to provide lateral
stability to the structure as a whole and;
4.2: Connections between the wall and its lateral supports are designed to resist a horizontal
force not less than 2% of the total factored load at the level of lateral support.
***** When these conditions are not met, the wall should be designed as a column*****

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

Design of RC Bearing Walls

vDesign of RC Bearing Walls:

CSA/A23.3-04 Empirical Method (C1.14.2.)
k = 0.8 for full restraint against rotation top
and/or bottom, or 1.0 otherwise.
hu = the vertical unsupported length of the wall
between the horizontal supports
t = wall thickness
Ag = the gross concrete cross-section area of
the wall
= t*lb
lb = 1.0 m for uniform distributed load

= for concentrated loads, the smallest of

.

a + hw , a + 18t or s

** for concentrated loads, have to check that

the contact stress is less than the bearing
strength Br
`

B r 0.85 c fc Ab

Pr

2
3

f Ag 1

`
1 c c

khu
32t

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

Design of RC Bearing Walls

vRC Walls Minimum Requirements:

Walls should be reinforced with distributed vertical and horizontal reinforcement bars arranged in
one or two layers,
At least one reinforcement layer curtain or mesh is mandatory for walls of thickness less than
210 mm usually basement and retaining walls. For wall thickness greater than 210 mm, two
curtains of reinforcement where each curtain should be placed not greater than t/3 from the wall
surface.
Minimum required area of distributed vertical reinforcement is

Av,min.

0.0015Ag

Ah,min.

0.002 Ag

Minimum required area of distributed horizontal reinforcement is

Maximum nominal bar diameter for the distributed reinforcement is

db,max t /10
Smax

Maximum allowable bar spacing for distributed vertical and horizontal reinforcement smax

3t
500 m

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

Design of RC Bearing Walls

vRC Walls Minimum Requirements:

In addition to the distributed reinforcement, a minimum of 2-15M (1 bar/layer) bars concentrated
vertical reinforcement should be used at each wall end,
In addition to the distributed horizontal and vertical reinforcement, a minimum of 2-15M (1
bar/layer)should be provided around all openings in wall doors or windows to resist diagonal
cracks
Walls may contain extra concentrated vertical reinforcement zone reinforcement and extra
horizontal reinforcement to resist seismic forces,
Minimum concrete cover is 20 mm for interior walls, 40 mm for exterior walls exposed to
weather and 75 mm for walls cast against and permanently exposed to earth for exterior face
Minimum wall thickness
where l and h are the unsupported
length and height

t w, min l / 25
t w, min h / 25
t w, min 150mm

for Non-load
Bearing walls

t w, min l / 30
t w, min h / 30
t w, min 100mm

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

Design of RC Bearing Walls

vTypical minimum RC Walls Requirements:

Brzev and Pao

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

Example 3

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

Design of RC Bearing Walls

Example

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

RC Shear Walls

vShear Walls:
The term shear wall is used to describe a wall that resists lateral wind or earthquake loads
acting parallel to the plane of the wall in addition to the gravity loads from the floors and roof
adjacent to the wall.

Bearing/Shear walls

Shear walls/Frame system

Core walls
Brzev and Pao

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

RC Shear Walls
Loads on Shear walls
i. Vertical axial force due to gravity loads;
ii. Moment about the major axis, horizontal axis perpendicular to the plane of the wall,
iii. And shear forces due to lateral loads acting in the plane of the wall

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

RC Shear Walls

vShear Walls:
Flexural Shear Wall:

hw/lw>2,
Tall, slender walls mainly influenced by the flexural moment.
Behaves like a vertical cantilever beam.

Squat Shear Wall:

hw/lw<2,
Short and sturdy walls found in low to
medium-rise buildings.
The behaviour is mainly shear-controlled.

Macgregor and Weight

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

Design of RC Shear Walls

Design of Shear Wall having Uniform Distributed Verticals:
1. Moment Resistance

Mr
c
lw

0.5 s f y Avt lw 1

1 1

b1 = 0.97 0.0025 fc` 0.67

Pf
c
1
lw
s f y Avt
f Avt

T
C

s y

`
f
c c lw t

a 1 = 0.85 0.0015 fc` 0.67

Avt = Distributed vertical reinforcement

Pf
`
f
c c lw t

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

Design of RC Shear Walls

Design of Shear Wall having Uniform Distributed Verticals:
2. Shear Resistance

Check the shear capacity in a manner similar to beams. Horizontal reinforcement in

walls acts like stirrups in beams. General and simplified methods can be used.

Vr > V f
bw = t w &

Vs

Ah dv cot
s

d v = 0. 8 l w

= Minimum horizontal reinforcement of 0.02 A gw.

06-87- 492: Advanced Topics in Structural Engineering Summer 2015

Chapter 2: Design of RC Columns and Walls

Example 4

The exterior RC wall shown is part of a five-story

reinforced concrete building. The wall resists the
shown loads at each floor level.
It is required to design the wall
according to CSA/A23.3-04 provisions

Use: 30 MPa concrete and G/40 reinforcing bars