Types of Shear Walls Used In Construction

Shear walls are special wall structures constructed to resist lateral loads. It is one of the main lateral resisting system used in building structures. 

Concrete Shear Wall

Shear walls are classified variously based on specific objectives. They are classified based on the objective of:

1. Load carried by the shear walls
2. Type of material used for shear wall construction
3. Based on design

1. Load-Bearing And No-load Bearing Shear Wall

A shear wall that is designed to carry gravity loads coming over it, in addition to the lateral forces are called as load-bearing shear walls.
A shear wall that is designed only to carry the lateral loads are called as non-load bearing shear walls.

2. Steel, Masonry or Concrete Shear Walls

Steel Plate Shear Wall

Shear walls can be made out of steel, masonry or concrete shear walls. Reinforced concrete shear walls are the most common type of shear walls constructed for high-rise building. Steel shear walls are used for steel designed buildings.

3. Solid Shear Walls and Perforated Shear Walls

Shear walls can be designed to be fully solid or with openings. Shear wall efficiency is dependent on their stiffness or rigidity. 
Solid shear walls are more stiff compared to the shear walls with openings. It is more efficient and desirable.
Due to certain functional necessity, shear walls are provided with openings. These shear walls are called perforated shear walls. The openings are provided to place windows, doors etc.

Solid Walls And Perforated Walls

As shown in the figure above, the portion of shear wall between the openings of the shear wall is called as a pier. The portion of shear wall above the opening is called as spandrel beam or beam. 

4. Coupled And Non-Coupled Shear Walls

When a regular pattern of openings for windows or doors are provided for each floor as shown below, the opening are interconnected using spandrels or beams. Such shear walls are called as coupled shear walls. 

Coupled And Non-Coupled Shear Walls

The connecting elements i.e. the spandrels or beams, that couple the shear walls are provided with horizontal and vertical reinforcement to transfer the shear from one wall to the below. 

When the connecting members are not able to transfer the shear from one shear wall to the below, they are referred as non-coupled shear walls. These structures are analyzed as cantilevers at the base.

The openings for shear walls can be provided in an regular pattern so that an efficient structural system is obtained. Such system provides required ductile response and very good energy dissipation characteristics. 

But, unlike solid walls, the openings reduces the rigidity of shear walls. A comparison of efficiency of different coupled shear wall with different openings are shown in the figure below.

Influence of Openings On Rigidity of Shear Walls

Also Read:

What is a shear wall?

What are deep beam?