Prediction of ultimate strength of concrete walls restrained on three sides

Abstract

This paper presents experimental and numerical investigations on the behavior of axially-loaded concrete walls restrained on three sides (TW3S walls). Particular emphasis was given to the influences of varying the slenderness ratio, aspect ratio, concrete strength, and eccentricity on the ultimate axial strength of TW3S walls. Because of the overly conservative nature of the code design equations and the scarcity of other available models for estimating the ultimate axial strength of TW3S walls, a more encompassing design equation has been developed. Comparisons with the test data of the current and previous studies confirmed that the proposed equation is satisfactory and reliable.