Effect of Shear Wall Openings on the Fundamental Period of Structures

A common approach in resisting lateral forces is the use of reinforced concrete shear walls in low-rise and mid-rise buildings. These walls represent the main elements to resist the lateral forces due to their large strength and stiffness. However, such walls may contain many openings like doors and windows due to functional requirements, and this may largely affect the overall lateral stiffness of them. It is thus of prime importance to quantify the effect of openings on the dynamic performance of the shear walls. Finite element analysis using SAP2000 structural analysis program is used as a main source in this study after verifying the results by comparing them to theoretical equations proposed by Hsiao in 2014 and hand calculations of period using Rayleigh’s method.The results are compared to ASCE7-16 code equation for estimating the fundamental period of shear wall structures. Finally, statistically regression is used to fit an equation for estimating the increase in the fundamental period of the shear – walled regular structures due to openings in the shear walls. Such an equation is quite useful in the conceptual design phase of buildings.