ABSTRACT
Several types of walls are used in building construction. Walls can be classified based upon the material used and their functionality. Materials that are mainly used for walls are reinforced concrete, precast concrete, concrete masonry units (CMU), and wood and metal stud. Based on their functionality, walls can be gravity load bearing walls, lateral load bearing walls, retaining walls, partition walls, infill walls, and parapet walls. Other varieties of walls include precast concrete walls and tilt-up concrete walls. The concrete of precast concrete walls is cast at the factory and they are shipped to the construction site; installed at place and connected to the concrete frames or the diaphragms. The concrete of the tilt-up walls is cast at ground of the construction site and the walls are tilted up to install them at place and connect them to the concrete frames or diaphragms. Chapter 11 of the code provides specifications for reinforced concrete walls. In this chapter, we will focus on the design of reinforced concrete walls to carry gravity loads; shear walls (both in-plane and out-of-plane shear); retaining walls and parapet walls. We will not discuss precast concrete or tilt-up walls. Special walls for earthquake design related to chapter 18 of the code are also beyond the scope of this book.
