Importance of Shear Wall to Control Deflection and Drift of RC Buildings for Different Earthquake Zones with respect to Aspect Ratio

Abstract

Bangladesh is situated in a geographically vulnerable location making it susceptible to major earthquakes and disastrous cyclones in the near future. The situation is exacerbated due to the ever-increasing colossal population density of the country. In this study, the impact of shear wall in controlling lateral loads has been investigated with respect to aspect ratios (Height/Breadth) for different Breadth/Length ratios (0.5, 0.75,1) to realize the effect of narrow and symmetrical buildings. Shear wall is an efficacious alternative for controlling lateral loads of a structure. The building models have been developed in ETABS for four different seismic zones (Z=0.12, 0.2, 0.28, 0.36) to explore the ramifications of earthquakes for each building type. The study concludes that shear wall can reduce story drift and lateral deflection by almost 90 percent irrespective of seismic zones and building shapes. Furthermore, the necessity of shear walls in buildings with a decreasing Breadth/Length ratio and an increasing aspect ratio is relatively higher as they are more vulnerable to lateral loads, which can be visualized from the data obtained from the study. The study also recommends the aspect ratios at which shear walls will be necessary to restrict the deflection and drift within the limit for buildings in different seismic zones mentioned in BNBC 2020