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Infill Opening in Shearwall

Infill Opening in Shearwall

Infill Opening in Shearwall

(OP)
Hey everyone,

I'm looking at a renovation that is requiring the "addition" of some new shear walls. We are going to sheath some existing stud walls and detail them as shearwalls. In a few areas these existing walls contain old openings that have been infilled with new stud framing. Ideally I'd like the shearwall studs to be continuous from bottom plate to top plate but I'm trying to evaluate some different approaches. Where shearwall chords are interrupted it is clear that "splices" between the infill studs and old windows will need to be designed for the chord tension & compression. However for studs in the field of the wall I'm having a hard time visualizing the actual demand. Seems the shearwall is analogous to a beam where flanges = chords and the field of the wall = web. Do I calculate the shear flow (VQ/It) and design for that or am I missing something here.

It's interesting I've always just used the published shear capacities from NDS. Working out forces interior to the shear wall using "principles of mechanics" is giving me a harder time that I'd like to admit...

RE: Infill Opening in Shearwall

(OP)
As an update - I looked at the shearwalls as a cantilevered beam and solved for the shear flow (VQ/I) at the middle of the wall. Surprisingly the loads are really small. I guess these are analogous to a build up beam. The shearwall endposts are like the flanges and the sheathing is like the beam web (duh!). The studs interior to the wall are really like stiffeners to prevent the sheathing from buckling.

I'm still going to add some straps for good measure. Let me know if anyone thinks this is way off base.

Thanks,

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