Effect of floor diaphragms on the shear behaviour of RC walls in buildings

Lateral loads in buildings are often resisted by using reinforced concrete shear walls. Those loads are transmitted to the walls through the floor slabs of the structure, which act as diaphragms. While both are connected and load transfer takes place between the two, they generally are designed by themselves without considering the other. However different interactions take place between those two elements which can impact the global behaviour of the structure. While the coupling of walls with beams is well documented and used in wall design, slabs are not considered rigid enough to act as a coupling element. However, different studies have shown that slab can indeed provide coupling to shear walls. Another, more unknown, interaction is one that is here referred to as "stirrup effect". This relates to the fact that the floor diaphragm, at its junction with the wall, is preventing expansion and cracks from opening. This thesis is therefore looking to investigate those two interactions and to assess if they are indeed rightly ignored most of the time or if they should be considered more seriously.