3-DIMENSIONAL FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF SHEAR WALL BUILDINGS

A three-dimensional finite element computer analysis of multistorey bu ilding structures, made of pierced shear walls of open and/or closed c ross-sections and flat plates, is presented. The computer program deve loped for this purpose provides a special and powerful mesh generation subroutine. A graphic program is also developed to prepare the data i nteractively by utilizing a screen graphic option. The structure model can be created. or modified very easily with the use of the present m esh generation program. The beams or columns can be added or cancelled with no difficulty at all. The plate finite element developed can rep resent the membrane as well as the bending behaviour of the shear wall and the floor components. The program developed is used to obtain sol utions to some realistic structures to determine the bounds of the sim plifying assumptions commonly made for the analysis of multistorey bui lding structures. The program is also capable of performing analysis b y using conventional simplified models of multistorey structures and o f verifying the bounds set for the assumptions. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd and Civil-Comp Ltd. All rights reserved.