Shear strength of squat rectangular reinforced concrete walls

Squat reinforced concrete walls (height less than twice the length) are important structural components of both conventional and nuclear safety-related structures. Predictive equations are available in the literature to compute the shear strength of squat walls but the scatter in the results for a given set of design variables is large. The utility of five predictive equations is evaluated using data from tests of 120 rectangular walls. The equation proposed by Wood in 1990 resulted in a median ratio of the predicted to measured strengths close to 1.0 with a small coefficient of variation. Test data are also used to quantify the loss of strength with repeated cycling. The inter-cycle drop in strength and stiffness is significant, with the largest reductions observed for walls with aspect ratios less than 0.5.