Reinforced concrete U-shaped wall section - rcuws

This is a section that can be adopted in the modelling of isolated U-shaped reinforced concrete walls subjected to orthogonal seismic loading. If the wall finds itself inside a given building, then appropriate rigid links/arms need to be introduced in order for the rigid body motion of the wall, and its influence on connected structural elements, to be adequately modelled. For non-orthogonal (i.e. diagonal) loading, the use of this section should be avoided, and assemblage of properly connected rectangular wall sections (rcrws, rcrs) is instead strongly advised. Users are also warmly advised to read the work of Beyer et al. [2008] for further guidance on this topic.

Materials and Dimensions

Three different materials can be defined; longitudinal reinforcement, transverse reinforcement, concrete.

The required dimensions are as follows:

  • Back side width. The default value is 2m
  • Side 1 width. The default value is 1.8m
  • Side 2 width. The default value is 1.8m
  • Back side thickness. The default value is 0.25 m
  • Side 1 thickness. The default value is  0.25 m
  • Side 2 thickness. The default value is  0.25 m
  • Width of back side confined edges. The default value is  0.4 m
  • Width of side 1 confined edges. The default value is  0.4 m
  • Width of side 2 confined edges. The default value is  0.4 m
  • Cover Thickness. The default value is 0.025 m

Reinforcement

Longitudinal reinforcement bars can be defined in two different ways:

  1. by editing the reinforcement pattern;
  2. by entering the respective area and sectional coordinates (the latter being defined in the local coordinate system of the section).

Further, the transverse reinforcement may be specified, in terms of the stirrups' diameters and legs, as well as the distance between them. Diamond stirrups at the section's rectangular confined edges may be also added.

Important: Be aware that re-bar distance d3 is to be measured from the bottom of the section.

Notes

  1. The confined concrete region is automatically computed by the program using the R/C cover thickness.
  2. All re-bars must be located within the confined concrete region.