Capacity design considerations for RC frame-wall structures

There are several important considerations that need to be made in the capacity design of RC frame-wall structures. Capacity design forces will be affected by material overstrength, higher mode effects and secondary loadpaths associated with the 3-dimensional structural response. In this paper, the main issues are identified and different means of predicting capacity design forces are reviewed. In order to ensure that RC frame-wall structures perform well it is explained that the prediction of the peak shears and moments that develop in the walls is particularly important and unfortunately very challenging. Through examination of a number of case study structures it is shown that there are a number of serious limitations with capacity design procedures included in current codes. The basis and potential of alternative capacity design procedures available in the literature is reviewed, and a new simplified capacity design possibility is proposed. Comparison with the results of 200 NLTH analyses of frame-wall structures ranging from 4 to 20 storeys suggest that the new method is able to predict wall base shears and mid-height wall moments reliably. However, efforts are also made to highlight the uncertainty with capacity design procedures and emphasise the need for future research on the subject.