Modelling the Shear Behaviour of Wall-Type Short Reinforced Concrete Columns

Wall-type columns are prevalent in the open ground storeys of reinforced concrete multi-storeyed buildings. Under relative lateral displacement of the top with respect to the bottom during an earthquake, these columns are subjected to moment reversal along the height with steep gradient, resulting in high shear demand. If they are not adequately designed and detailed, they may fail in shear even before yielding under flexure. A pushover analysis of a building can model the sequence of failure of such columns. Of course, the analysis needs appropriate modelling of the non-linear behaviour of such columns under storey drift. This paper presents two analytical methods to predict the non-linear lateral load versus drift behaviour of a wall-type shear-critical short column. The methods are based on: (i) a piecewise linear model and (ii) a generalized truss analogy. These two methods are corroborated with the test results of a large-scale wall-type column specimen. It is expected that the piecewise linear approach and the generalized truss analogy for modelling the shear behaviour will be suitable for professional practice and academic research, respectively.