The Effect of Walls on RC High-Rise Buildings

Abstract

High-rise buildings are highly sensitive to horizontal loads. Therefore, any changes made to the arrangement, size, or shape of the walls will have significant effects on the strength and performance of the building. The number of walls in each direction is determined based on the load-bearing capacity of that particular direction. The horizontal loads are transferred to the load-bearing walls through floor slabs, which are assumed to be completely rigid within their plane. Hence, the rigid walls function as cantilever beams that have large cross-sectional heights.In this article, the author conducted an investigation on four specific cases: walls located at the corner of the building in the X direction, walls located at the corner of the building in the Y direction, walls present in both directions, and reinforced concrete frames.The analysis results suggest that changing the placement of rigid walls located at the four corners of the structure will significantly influence the bending moment, shear force, and axial force observed at the base of the structure's columns. Simultaneously, it also affects the top displacement based on the main bearing direction of the structure.