Shear Resistance of Steel Diaphragm Walls Considering Flexibility of Slab
This study explores the seismic performance of steel diaphragm walls in underground structures, a critical aspect of structural engineering. The study focuses on the effects of slab diaphragm flexibility, an often overlooked factor in seismic design. Traditional seismic designs often assume the slab acts as a rigid diaphragm, leading to inaccuracies in predicting how forces are distributed between the slab and walls during an earthquake. To address this, the authors model steel diaphragm walls using equivalent cross-sections and analyze shear forces in both rigid and semi-rigid diaphragm scenarios. Results show that semi-rigid diaphragms reduce the shear forces on the exterior walls while increasing them on the internal core, thereby affecting the overall stiffness of the structure. The study emphasizes the importance of considering diaphragm flexibility in seismic design to achieve more accurate predictions of structural behavior and improve construction efficiency.