Wall with Large Opening

Abstract

A simply-supported wall with a large opening near the bottom left-hand corner support is studied. The wall was considered earlier by Schlaich et al. in the PCI Journal of May/June 1987. The span of the wall is 7.0 m and the height 4.7 m. The square opening has sides 1.5 m. A point load of 3000 kN occurs at the top of the wall, 4.5 m to the right of the left-hand support. Two SPM solutions are provided. The first corresponds to the approach in the abovementioned PCI Journal: the wall parts to the left of the point load and to the right of the point load are studied as separate D-regions. Hence, the member forces can be calculated by considerations of equilibrium alone. To obtain the second SPM solution, the full wall structure is treated as a single integral D-region, and the member forces are determined using the program SPM.py, which is described in Appendix A. Either SPM solution can be used to construct a strut-and-tie model. The first SPM solution yields the most economic stringer reinforcement. However, crack widths will be smallest if based on the second SPM solution.