Simple elastic model to study buckling in reinforced concrete walls

Abstract

This work aims to obtain a simple expression, which allows defining a minimum thickness for reinforced concrete slender walls in order to avoid buckling. This expression was obtained based on the thin plates theory, with a linear-elastic analysis, considering an energetic approach and the Ritz method. The proposed model takes account for only the compressed zone of the wall, with an axial load distribution obtained from the flexo-compression demands, in other words, the compression stresses in the concrete along the distance between the extreme fiber in compression and the neutral axis. The results obtained present an adequate qualitative
agreement with the experimental observations, however, quantitatively the results are non-conservative.