Title:
Sliding Shear Strength of Reinforced Concrete Squat Walls
Author(s):
Min-Yuan Cheng, Marnie B. Giduquio, Terry Y. P. Yuen, and Rémy D. Lequesne
Publication:
Structural Journal
Volume:
123
Issue:
4
Appears on pages(s):
55-71
Keywords:
cold joint; deformation; sliding; squat wall; strength
DOI:
10.14359/51749493
Date:
7/1/2026
Abstract:
Concentrated shear deformation near the base of a wall, referred to herein as sliding shear, is one of the major mechanisms that can limit the strength and deformation capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) low-rise or squat walls. This paper reports tests of five large-scale RC squat wall specimens without axial load to investigate the effects of: 1) longitudinal reinforcement layout; 2) shear stress demand; 3) high-strength materials; and 4) aspect ratio (hw/lw) on the sliding shear behavior of squat walls. All specimens were tested under lateral displacement reversals. Test results indicate that the maximum strength of all test specimens with an aspect ratio of 0.5 was primarily associated with, or limited by, sliding shear at the wall base. For specimens with an aspect ratio of 0.5 and negligible axial load, the presence of special boundary elements did not have an apparent influence on wall behavior. Increasing the amount of longitudinal reinforcement, which also increased wall strength, resulted in less sliding deformation before 1.0% drift ratio. Beyond 1.0% drift ratio, all specimens with an aspect ratio of 0.5 exhibited a substantial pinching of the hysteretic response, where sliding along the wall base accounted for approximately 80% of the overall deformation. The specimen with high-strength materials exhibited less deformation capacity than other specimens due to bar fracture at the wall base. As the aspect ratio increased to 1.0, the relative contribution of sliding deformation to overall drift decreased substantially to less than 20% of the overall deformation. Based on the response characteristics of the test specimens, a sliding shear strength model for walls with negligible axial load is proposed. A database consisting of test results from 55 specimens (including five from this study) was developed to verify the proposed strength model.
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