Structural and Earthquake Engineering

Level: M.S.
Student: Maikol Del Carpio Ramos Pursuing Ph.D.
Advisor: Andrew S. Whittaker Ph.D.

Gulec (M.S., 2005 and Ph.D. 2009) studied the utility of predictive equations for the peak shear strength of squat (also termed short or low-rise) reinforced concrete walls that are widely used in the United States. The accuracy of these equation sets was evaluated using statistical measures and a database of information assembled from the tests of 434 walls. Gulec concluded that the equations used in the United States do not provide unbiased estimates of peak shear strength and that the scatter in the predictions was significant. The Gulec study was extended to address predictive equations used in Canada, Europe, Mexico, and New Zealand. The Gulec database was used. Capacity reduction factors, strength reduction factors and partial safety factors were set equal to 1.0, and measured material properties were used for the predictions to enable a robust comparison of predicted and measured results.