structural DESIGN

Special Steel-Reinforced Concrete

Structural Walls
Part 1: Significant Changes to the Design and Detailing Requirements
By David A. Fanella, Ph.D., S.E., P.E., F.ACI, F.ASCE, F.SEI

S ignificant changes were made to the design and detailing

requirements for special steel-reinforced concrete struc-
tural walls in the 2019 edition of Building Code Requirements
for Structural Concrete (ACI 318-19) (hereafter referred to
as ACI 318). According to ASCE/SEI 7-16, Minimum
Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other
Structures, special structural walls are required in build-
ings with bearing walls, building frames, and dual systems
assigned to Seismic Design Category (SDC) D, E, or F.
The following revisions to the design and detailing require-
ments can be found in Sects. 18.2.6 and 18.10 of ACI 318:
1) The introduction of Grade 80 and Grade 100
deformed bars to resist the effects from flexure,
axial force, a combination of axial force and
flexure, and shear.
2) New requirements for longitudinal bar termination
and splice locations.
3) New requirements for minimum area of boundary
longitudinal reinforcement for slender walls.
4) Increase of the design shear force for slender walls.
5) New requirements for expected wall deformation
capacity and expected wall drift demand.
6) Revised details for transverse reinforcement within
boundary elements and the wall web.
7) New maximum vertical spacing requirements of
transverse reinforcement at wall boundaries.
The requirements for Items 1 through 3 are covered below;
Items 4 through 7 will be covered in a future article.

High-Strength Reinforcement
Recent advances, including substantial new research, have
enabled reinforcing steels of higher strengths to be a viable
option in a variety of applications in reinforced concrete
structures, including buildings with special structural walls
(see the CRSI Technical Notes Guide to the Use of Grade 80 Figure 1. Longitudinal bar requirements for special structural walls.
Reinforcing Bars in ACI 318-19 and Guide to the Use of Grade
100 Reinforcing Bars in ACI 318-19). Permissible applications of high- effects. All components of special structural walls, including coupling
strength steel reinforcement (that is, reinforcement with a yield strength beams and wall piers, are permitted to use this reinforcement.
of 80,000 psi or 100,000 psi) were significantly expanded in the 2019 According to ACI 318 Table 19.2.1.1, the minimum specified compres-
edition of ACI 318. For special structural walls, ASTM A706 Grade 80 sive strength of the concrete, f c´, for special structural walls with Grade
and Grade 100 deformed reinforcing bars are permitted to be used to 60 or Grade 80 reinforcement is 3,000 psi; for walls with Grade 100
resist the effects of flexure, axial force, and a combination of flexure and reinforcement, minimum f c´is 5,000 psi. The higher minimum com-
axial force. Similarly, ASTM A615, A706, A955, and A996 Grade 80 pressive strength for Grade 100 reinforcement enhances bar anchorage
and Grade 100 deformed reinforcing bars are permitted to resist shear and reduces the neutral axis depth for improved overall performance.

14 STRUCTURE magazine
 Utilizing high-strength steel reinforcement in special
structural walls typically results in smaller bar sizes and/
or fewer bars than Grade 60 reinforcement. This translates
to improved concrete placement and consolidation and a
reduction in reinforcing bar congestion, especially in walls
with coupling beams. It also results in lower placement costs
because fewer bars need to be placed in the field.

Longitudinal Reinforcement
Termination and Splice Locations
New requirements for termination and lap splice locations
of longitudinal reinforcement in special structural walls are
given in ACI 318 Sect. 18.10.2.3.
Except at the top of a wall, longitudinal reinforcement must
extend at least 12 feet above the point where it is no longer
required to resist flexure but need not extend more than a
tension development length, ld, above the next floor level,
where ld is determined in accordance with ACI 318 Sect.
25.4.2.3 or 25.4.2.4. This requirement is illustrated for the
termination of the “A” bars in Figure 1. The limit of 12 feet
accounts for buildings with relatively large story heights.
At locations where yielding is likely to occur because of
lateral displacements (like the base of a cantilever wall), ld
must be multiplied by 1.25. This factor accounts for (1) the
likelihood that the actual yield strength of the reinforcement
exceeds the specified yield strength, fy and (2) the influence
of strain hardening and cyclic load reversals. Extending
longitudinal bars a distance of ld above the next floor level
Figure 2. End longitudinal reinforcement requirements for special structural walls.
is a more practical approach for bar development than the
requirements in previous editions of ACI 318. This requirement intends to promote the formation of well-distrib-
Lap splices of longitudinal reinforcement within defined boundary uted secondary flexural cracks in the wall plastic hinge region, thereby
regions are not permitted over a story height, hsx, above a critical reducing the potential for reinforcement fracture at these locations.
section and a distance of ld below a critical section where the value The minimum required distances above and below the critical section
of hsx need not exceed 20 feet (see Figure 1 for the case of a single where the minimum longitudinal reinforcement must be provided
critical section at the base of a wall where yielding of the longitudinal are the greater of lw and Mu/(3Vu ); these are the lengths over which
reinforcement is likely to occur as a result of lateral displacements). yielding is expected. The terms Mu and Vu are the factored bending
Boundary regions, in this case, include those within the lengths moment and shear force at the critical section, respectively, obtained
specified in ACI 18.10.6.4(a) for the horizontal extent of special from analysis of the building using code-prescribed seismic forces.
boundary elements and within a length equal to the wall thickness No more than 50 percent of the minimum longitudinal reinforce-
measured beyond the intersecting region(s) of connected walls (see ment is permitted to be terminated at any one section of the wall;
the shaded areas indicated on the wall plan in Figure 1). Test results this requirement intends to avoid a weak section in the wall adjacent
have shown that the inelastic deformation capacity of a structural to the anticipated plastic hinge region.
wall is significantly reduced where lap splices are located at or near More in-depth information on the changes outlined in this article,
the critical section. including design aids and worked-out examples, can be found in
the CRSI Design Guide on the ACI 318 Building Code Requirements
Minimum Area of Boundary Longitudinal Reinforcement
for Structural Concrete. Also available is the CRSI Design Checklist
A minimum area of longitudinal reinforcement must be provided at for Special Steel Reinforced Concrete Structural Walls, which contains
the ends of structural walls or wall piers that are slender (that is, the an easy-to-use list of essential items that must be completed when
overall height-to-length ratio, hw /lw is greater than or equal to 2), are designing and detailing special structural walls. Visit www.crsi.org
essentially continuous from the base of the structure to the top of for more information on these and other CRSI resources.■
the wall, and are designed to have a single critical section for flexure
and axial loads. According to ACI 318 Sect. 18.10.2.4, the minimum References included in the PDF version of the
longitudinal reinforcement ratio within 0.15lw from the end of a verti- online article at STRUCTUREmag.org.
cal wall segment and over a width equal to the thickness of the wall,
b, must be 6√f c´/fy (see Figure 2, where the minimum longitudinal
David A. Fanella is Senior Director of Engineering at the Concrete
reinforcement ratio requirement is given in terms of the minimum
Reinforcing Steel Institute ([email protected]).
area of reinforcing steel, Al(end)).

APRIL 2022 15
 References – online only
ACI (American Concrete Institute). 2019. Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete and Commentary. ACI 318-19,
Farmington Hills, Michigan.
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). 2017. Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures,
ASCE/SEI 7-16, Reston, VA.
CRSI (Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute). 2020. Guide to the Use of Grade 80 Reinforcing Bars in ACI 318-19. ETN-D-7-20,
Schaumburg, IL.
CRSI (Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute). 2020. Guide to the Use of Grade 100 Reinforcing Bars in ACI 318-19. ETN-D-6-20,
Schaumburg, IL.
CRSI (Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute). 2020. Design Guide on the ACI 318 Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete.
Schaumburg, IL.
CRSI (Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute). 2022. Design Checklist for Special Steel Reinforced Concrete Structural Walls. Schaumburg, IL.

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