Construction Self-Weight Stresses of Precast Shear Walls

Multistory buildings may be constructed economically by system building in precast concrete using large prefabricated wall panel and floor slab units with in situ horizontal and vertical joints. Like masonry and brick construction, the stability of such buildings is primarily dependent on the action of the gravity or self-weight forces and on the efficiency of the joints in transmitting shear and tension stresses between the panels. The stress distributions accumulated during the story by story erection of a typical precast concrete gable wall are computed by the Finite Element method using the Shear Walls with Openings program SWALLO. These are compared with the stresses calculated on the assumption that the total dead weight acts simultaneously on the completed wall. It is shown that there are considerable differences in the estimation of the loads acting on the foundation beam, especially for a wall with a small number of stories. Savings in the amount of reinforcement required within the precast wall panels and across the in situ joints can be made from the stress contours provided by the SWALLO program.