Load capacity of slender reinforced concrete walls governed by flexural cracking strength of concrete

This paper demonstrates, using experimental results and theoretical derivations, that some reinforced concrete walls may be able to carry much higher loads if the flexural cracking strength is considered in the calculation. The paper presents a theoretical derivation of a formula for estimating the axial load capacities of reinforced concrete walls subjected to eccentric axial loads as well as uniform lateral loads. A simplified, approximate version of the formula is also presented. The formula is based on the assumption that the failure of the walls is controlled by the flexural cracking strength of concrete. The paper also describes an experimental programme and reports test results for four reinforced concrete walls with varying amounts of reinforcements of varying type, namely, mesh (fabric), bar and steel fibre reinforcement. The test results show that the amount and type of reinforcement do not have any influence on the load capacity of the walls but only have an effect on the ductility of the walls. Comparisons are made with the formula and other commonly used methods of estimation. The formula estimations are much closer to the test results than the other methods for the type of walls tested.