The continuous medium analysis of plane and spatial structures

The continuous medium analyses of two- and three-dimensional multi-storey shear wall structures are presented in this thesis. The system of planar coupled walls with continuously variable stiffness has been analysed and two methods of solution, the Galerkin and the finite difference methodsy proposed. The results of tests on perspex models with tapered width agreed reasonably well with the analytical results. A new technique which enables important design quantities for uniform coupled wall systems on flexible bases to be evaluated rapidly has been developed. The desIgn curves for several standard load cases, vertical and lateral loads have been produced. These design curves are applicable to two coupled wall systems or any symmetrical system with three coupled walls. The lateral-load analysis of symmetrical shear wall and shear wall-frame structures has been presented. The bending and torsional actions of the applied loads are analysed separately. Each separate analysis is reducible to the analysis of an equivalent analogous plane system. The method is particularly suitable for analysing a symmetrical structure which consists of a few distinct groups of coupled wall assemblies. Asymmetrical shear wall and shear wall-frame structures have also been treated, Finally the structure composed of thin-walled assemblies has been analysed by using Vlasov's theory for thin-walled beams of open section. The theoretical results were compared with the results of tests on a fourteen-storey perspex model. Reasonable agreement was obtained between theory and experiment.The continuous medium analyses of two- and three-dimensional multi-storey shear wall structures are presented in this thesis. The system of planar coupled walls with continuously variable stiffness has been analysed and two methods of solution, the Galerkin and the finite difference methodsy proposed. The results of tests on perspex models with tapered width agreed reasonably well with the analytical results. A new technique which enables important design quantities for uniform coupled wall systems on flexible bases to be evaluated rapidly has been developed. The desIgn curves for several standard load cases, vertical and lateral loads have been produced. These design curves are applicable to two coupled wall systems or any symmetrical system with three coupled walls. The lateral-load analysis of symmetrical shear wall and shear wall-frame structures has been presented. The bending and torsional actions of the applied loads are analysed separately. Each separate analysis is reducible to the analysis of an equivalent analogous plane system. The method is particularly suitable for analysing a symmetrical structure which consists of a few distinct groups of coupled wall assemblies. Asymmetrical shear wall and shear wall-frame structures have also been treated, Finally the structure composed of thin-walled assemblies has been analysed by using Vlasov's theory for thin-walled beams of open section. The theoretical results were compared with the results of tests on a fourteen-storey perspex model. Reasonable agreement was obtained between theory and experiment