©COMPUTERS AND STRUCTURES, INC.
, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA AUGUST 2002
SHEAR WALL DESIGN CSA-A23.3-94
Technical Note
Spandrel Shear Design
This Technical Note describes how the program designs concrete wall span-
drels for shear using CSA-A23.3-94. Note that in this program you cannot
specify shear reinforcing and then have the program check it. The program
only designs the spandrel for shear and reports how much shear reinforcing is
required.
The program allows consideration of rectangular sections and T-beam sec-
tions for wall spandrels. The shear design for both of these types of spandrel
sections is identical.
General
The wall spandrel shear reinforcing is designed for each of the design load
combinations. The required area of reinforcing for vertical shear is only cal-
culated at the ends of the spandrel beam.
In this program, wall spandrels are designed for major direction flexure and
shear forces only. Effects caused by any axial forces, minor direction bending,
torsion or minor direction shear that may exist in the spandrels must be in-
vestigated by the user independent of the program.
The following steps are involved in designing the shear reinforcing for a par-
ticular wall spandrel section for a particular design loading combination at a
particular station.
1. Determine the factored shear force Vf.
2. Determine the factored shear stress, νc, that can be carried by the con-
crete.
3. Determine the required shear reinforcing to carry the balance of the shear
force.
General Page 1 of 5
Shear Wall Design CSA-A23.3-94 Spandrel Shear Design
Determine Factored Forces
The factored forces Pf, Mf, and Vf that are acting on the spandrel section are
determined from the basic forces for each load case and the load combination
factors. Then the spandrel is designed for the factored forces.
In addition to designing for the factored shear force, the spandrel section is
designed for enhanced factored forces if the design load combination involves
any seismic loading. In the enhanced factored forces, the seismic load factors
are multiplied by a force modification factor, R. This modification factor re-
flects the capability of a structure to dissipate energy through inelastic be-
haviors. As given in the National Building Code of Canada, the value of R is
taken as follows (CSA 21.1; NBCC 4.1.9(8), Table 4.1.9.1.B):
1.5 for Ordinary wall
4.0 for Ductile Coupled wall
3.5 for Ductile Partially Coupled wall
R =
3.5 for Flexural wall
2.0 for walls with Nominal ductility
Determine the Concrete Shear Capacity
Given the design force set Mf and Vf, the shear capacity carried by the con-
crete alone, νc, is calculated using the "General Method" or "Compression
Field Theory" as follows (CSA 11.4):
For designing spandrels of Ordinary shear walls or all kinds of shear walls for
non-seismic loads, νc is set to:
νc = 1.3 λβ f c' (CSA 11.4.3.1)
where β is a factor indicating the ability of diagonally cracked concrete to re-
sist shear. It is a function of the stress condition and its average value is 0.2
with a usual range of 0.1 to 0.4 (CSA 11.4.4). It is computed from CSA Table
Determine Factored Forces Page 2 of 5
Shear Wall Design CSA-A23.3-94 Spandrel Shear Design
11.1 through an iterative procedure as β is related to θ. In computing the β
factor, the following two parameters (εx and νratio) are used:
M f / d v + 0.5V f cot θ
εx = , 0 ≤ εx ≤ 0.002 (CSA 11.4.6)
E s As
V f / bw d v
νratio = (CSA 11.4.5)
λϕ c f c'
In the preceding equation, dv, the distance between the resultants of the
tensile and compressive forces, is conservatively taken to be 0.9d.
dv = 0.9d (CSA 11.0)
Here θ is an angle of inclination of diagonal compressive stresses. It is a
function of current stress condition and its approximate value is 34 degrees
with a range of 27 degrees to 45 degrees (CSA 11.4.4). In a similar proce-
dure to calculate the β factor, θ is also computed from CSA Table 11.1 using
the parameters εx and νratio through an iterative procedure.
The term λ that is used as a multiplier on all f c' terms in this Technical Note
is a shear strength reduction factor that applies to light-weight concrete (CSA
11.0, CSA 8.6.5). It is equal to 1 for normal weight concrete. This factor is
specified in the concrete material properties.
For designing spandrels of Ductile shear walls, Ductile Coupled walls and
Ductile Partially Coupled walls subjected to seismic loads, νc is computed
based on the assumption that εx= 0.015 (CSA 21.7.3.26). However, νratio is
calculated using the same procedure as is used for the Ordinary or non-
seismic spandrels. With those values of εx and νratio, the β factor is obtained
from CSA Table 21.1 instead of Table 11.1 In that case, θ is always taken as
45 degrees (CSA 21.7.3.2.a).
For designing spandrels of Nominal Ductility subjected to seismic loads, νc is
computed based on the assumption that β = 0.1 and θ = 45 degrees (CSA
21.9.3.4.2.a). Otherwise the procedure for computing νc is the same as that
for spandrels of Ordinary ductility (CSA 11.4).
Determine the Concrete Shear Capacity Page 3 of 5
Shear Wall Design CSA-A23.3-94 Spandrel Shear Design
For seismic load combinations, the effective shear depth, dv, is taken as the
minimum of 0.9d and 0.8h (CSA 21.7.3.2(d), CSA 11.0).
Determine Required Shear Reinforcement
Given Vf and νc, the following procedure provides the required shear reinforc-
ing in area per unit length.
The average shear stress is computed for a rectangular section as:
Vf
ν= (CSA 11.4.5)
ts dv
In the preceding equation, dv, the distance between the resultants of the
tensile and compressive forces, is conservatively taken to be 0.9d for non-
seismic cases (CSA 11.0) and the minimum of 0.9d and 0.8h for seismic
cases (CSA 21.7.3.2.d).
dv = 0.9d for non-seismic loads (CSA 11.0)
dv = min(0.9d, 0.8h) for seismic loads (CSA 21.7.3.2.d)
The average shear stress, ν, is limited to a maximum limit, vmax, given by:
νmax = 0.25 f c' (CSA 11.4.3)
The shear reinforcement per unit spacing is computed as follows:
If ν ≤ ϕc(νc/2),
Av
= 0, (CSA 11.2.8.1)
s
else if ϕc(νc/2) < ν ≤ (ϕcνc + ϕs0.06 fc' cotθ),
'
As 0.06 f c t s
= (CSA 11.2.8.4)
s fy
else if (ϕcνc + ϕs0.06 fc' cotθ) < ν ≤ ϕcνmax,
Determine Required Shear Reinforcement Page 4 of 5
Shear Wall Design CSA-A23.3-94 Spandrel Shear Design
Av (v − ϕ c vc )t s
= (CSA 11.4.3.2)
s ϕ s f y cot θ
else if ν > ϕcνmax,
a failure condition is declared. (CSA 11.3.4)
In addition, the minimum vertical shear reinforcing is checked with its mini-
mum permitted ratio of 0.0020 for Ordinary spandrels (CSA 14.3.3, CSA
14.2.2), 0.0025 for Ductile spandrels (CSA 21.5.5.1), and 0.0025 for Nominal
spandrels (CSA 21.9.3.3.1).
The limit of fc' is taken to be 80 MPa for Ordinary spandrels and 55 MPA for
Nominal and Ductile spandrels:
fc' ≤ 80 MPa (Ordinary) (CSA 8.6.1.1)
fc' ≤ 55 MPa (Nominal and Ductile) (CSA 21.2.3.1)
The limit of fy is taken to be 500 MPa for Ordinary spandrels, and 400 MPa for
all Nominal and Ductile spandrels.
fy ≤ 500 MPa (Ordinary) (CSA 8.5.1)
fy ≤ 400 MPa (Nominal and Ductile) (CSA 21.2.4.1)
The maximum of all the calculated Av/s values, obtained from each load com-
bination, is reported for the major direction of the spandrel along with the
controlling shear force and associated load combination number. You can set
the output units for the distributed shear reinforcing in the shear wall design
preferences.
Determine Required Shear Reinforcement Page 5 of 5
