ABSTRACT
Reinforced Concrete (RC) walls with eccentric axial loads can be designed using the simplified design method. The previous Australian Concrete Standard (AS3600-01) and current American Concrete Institute Code (ACI318-14) are intended for load-bearing walls supported at top and bottom only or One-Way action (OW). In practice, walls behaving in two-way action supported on three sides (TW3S) and supported on four sides (TW4S) are usually encountered in monolithic concrete structures, particularly in core walls of tall buildings. Figure 1 illustrates the hypothetical deflection and cracking characteristics at failure of axially loaded walls with various boundary conditions. Due to extensive experimental research, the current AS3600-09 guidelines include effective length factors for walls with various support conditions. However, the code is restricted to walls with effective height to thickness ratios (Hwe/tw) of less than 30, and does not significantly account for openings such as doors or windows.
