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New Opening in Existing Concrete Shear Walls

New Opening in Existing Concrete Shear Walls

New Opening in Existing Concrete Shear Walls

(OP)
Hi All,

First, I would like to say that I do not have much experience with concrete shear walls. I have evaluated the base shear from this old building and compared it to a today's code requirements and I discovered that the design loads have increased to a magnitude of roughly 4 times in my case. On the other hand, I am having a hard time figuring out if my wall is actually a shear wall. This wall is part of the shorter side of the building which stops at level 2. The main elevator core has walls in both directions that go the full height of the building (10 levels). My wall sits on a pile cap at either end, but has no grade beam like the other walls at the elevator core. I have attached a photo for reference. The client would like to introduce a new opening in this so called "shear wall," but before I run any analysis or numbers I questioning whether or not the wall is actually a shear wall. I believe it may have been just added as a wall for the shorter side of the building to support the floors. Any suggestions/openings would be greatly appreciated.

RE: New Opening in Existing Concrete Shear Walls

What do the connections look like at the floor and roof interface to this wall? That should help determine if it was considered a shear wall. If the connections are minimal, regardless of it's stiffness, it won't act as a shear wall.

Also, how big is the opening they want?

RE: New Opening in Existing Concrete Shear Walls

(OP)
Hi Njlutzwe,

Thanks for the reply! From my attachment you can see that the foundations consist of a pile cap for said wall, and the pile cap is no different than the caps for the columns adjacent to it. At the roof level (2nd floor), the roof slab is connected to the wall. As for the size of the opening, it would be a typical door opening in a wall, so not too large of an opening.

RE: New Opening in Existing Concrete Shear Walls

without a doubt, this is a concrete shear wall.

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