Engineering and Construction

There are many different types of structural systems that can be used to resist the inertia forces in a building that are induced by the earthquake ground motion. For example, the structural engineer could use braced frames, moment resisting frames, and shear walls to resist the lateral earthquake- induced forces. Shear walls are designed to hold adjacent columns or vertical support members in place and then transfer the lateral forces to the foundation. The forces resisted by shear walls are predominantly shear forces, although a slender shear wall could also be subjected to significant bending (Arnold and Reitherman, 1982).

Common problems with shear walls are that they have inadequate strength to resist the lateral forces and that they are inadequately attached to the foundation. For example, having inadequate shear walls on a particular building level can create a soft story. A soft story could also be created if there is a discontinuity in the shear walls from one floor to the other, such as a floor where its shear walls are not aligned with the shear walls on the upper or lower floors.