Comparison of Practical Approaches for Modelling Shearwalls in Structural Analyses of Buildings

Abstract eng:
Modeling shearwalls is very important issue for static and dynamic analyses of building structures. For the purpose of finite elements modelling, different techniques utilizing either shell elements or combination of frame elements can be used. Shell elements formulations generally consist of out-of-plane (plate) and in-plane (membrane) degrees of freedom. The membrane element with drilling degrees of freedom was a challenge for the engineering community for many decades. The membrane elements generally combined with plate elements to form a “shell element” that has six degrees of freedom at each node and an in-plane rotational degree of freedom, which makes it compatible with three-dimensional beam-type finite element. This approach was successful and many analysis software have adopted various formulations for the shell elements. In practical engineering, although the shell element appears to have full compatibility with three-dimensional beam element, some limitations in the formulation were identified. Although drilling rotations allow introducing external loads in the form of drilling moments, analytical results show inconsistency and sensitivity to mesh sizes and loading conditions. In this study, different approaches of modeling the shearwalls in structural analyses of buildings are discussed and compared. The effect of mesh size of shell elements on the bending moment of attached beams will be emphasized and different practical solution will be investigated.

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