Is mechanical ducting allowed to pass thru shear wall?
Is mechanical ducting allowed to pass thru shear wall?
(OP)
Our 4-story bdg. is provided with shear wall designed to resist lateral loads as earthquake. Our mechanical department wants to pass a pipe ducting about 800mm in diameter thru the shear wall. However, I did not allow to do it so. Is there any reference structural codes to prohibit the opening thru the shear wall?Does it not affect adversely the structural integrity of the wall?Please, if any expert can give me his opinion.Thanks a lot.





RE: Is mechanical ducting allowed to pass thru shear wall?
There's no code provision explicitly prohibiting openings in shear walls. But they do need to be accounted for.
I'd contact the original design firm. They might just OK it. Or they can look at their calculations and make a judgement.
I doubt the opening will be a problem. i'm sure there are windows and doors in the wall and one more opening won't make it fall down. But you are correct in slowing down the process.
RE: Is mechanical ducting allowed to pass thru shear wall?
I appreciate your remarks, but for further infos, the wall has no door nor window. It's part of partition wall of an office. It is connected to a column and free end to the other end. What makes me concern is, if mechanical ducting will pass thru that wall, does it likely to affect structural integrity to the whole building?
RE: Is mechanical ducting allowed to pass thru shear wall?
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
http://mmcengineering.tripod.com
RE: Is mechanical ducting allowed to pass thru shear wall?
RE: Is mechanical ducting allowed to pass thru shear wall?
RE: Is mechanical ducting allowed to pass thru shear wall?
In the section detail, it's quite clear that no opening is provided thru the wall, which means our structural engr does not consider the opening like mechanical ducts to cut thru the wall. Otherwise, it would affect to structural integrity of the building as a whole.