Case Study on Shear Walls Placement in the Rehabilitation of a Multi-storey Residential Building

Shear walls structures are frequently used in seismic regions for high-rise buildings. The paper presents various design considerations for shear walls structures in accordance with current national and international codes. An adequate layout for this type of structural element aims to restrict rotational movement and horizontal displacement in case of an earthquake. By minimizing the torsional effect caused by asymmetric placement of the structural elements and stiffness discontinuities along the building height, leads to improved behavior in case of an earthquake. The authors analyzed different arrangements of the shear walls in case of a GF + 9 stories reinforced concrete residential building to determinean optimal structural system. Numerical simulation using AxisVM X5, student version, were conducted, comparing the static, dynamic and seismic analysis. Results indicate that the reinforced concrete shear walls have a crucial role in limiting the torsional effect of the building, enhancing stiffness, and reducing horizontal displacements and storey drifts. Notably, effective structural behavior is observed even when the mass center and stiffness center are not identical.