Special vs Ordinary reinforced concrete shear walls 2

[WWTEng]

What are some of the major differences between SRCSW and ORCSW. I haven't used Special in the past.

 

[slickdeals]

A lot of it has to do with confinement of the boundary zones. You have to calculate a boundary element length at each end of the wall and provide sufficient transverse reinforcement to confine it.

 

[mike20793]

Agree with slickdeals; there are some prescriptive requirements that differ for the reinforcement, but generally the major difference lies in the confinement of the boundary elements. Once the compressive stress reaches 0.2f'c, the reinforcement can buckle out of the wall. ACI requires hefty confinement (usually #4 ties and crossties at 4") to prevent this type of failure.

 

[WWTEng]

I also noticed that there is no intermediate wall. Has this always been the case? Just curious.

Thanks.