A New Formulation For The Fundamental Period Of Reinforced Concrete Planar Shear Walls

Abstract

The reinforced concrete shear wall system has become a popular structural component for lateral resistance in buildings and base shear of these structures has a vital effect on the earthquake induced lateral forces. The fundamental period of structures is used in most building codes to determine the lateral forces. However, accurate computation of period is not an easy task at the design stage. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the empirical easy-to-use equation for the calculation of fundamental periods of concrete planar shear walls. Genetic programming has been used to generate the proposed formula. Finite element analysis, were carried out for various shear walls having a variety of height and length and the results were used to develop the proposed formula. The outcomes of formula are compared with the results from equations in the seismic codes and finite element analysis. The comparison results indicate good agreement with finite element analysis and show better performance than codes.