An Effective Beam Width Model of Slab in Thick Wall-Thick Slab Joints Subjected to Lateral Forces

Thick wall-thick slab structures are a newly-developed type of structural system comprising solely of structural floor slabs and shear walls, the former of which is thicker than that of slabs used in typical reinforced concrete frame structures. This study looks to develop a method to predict the initial stiffness of thick wall-thick slab joints under lateral loading by adopting the effective beam width method (EBWM). The height and length of the bearing wall, and the span length of the slab on effective beam width have been considered. Moreover, a correction coefficient that estimates the lateral force applied on the wall top, which is another crucial parameter for predicting the effective beam width and considered as the condition providing initial stiffness, is suggested based on experimental data from the literature. Additionally, by comparing values of the effective beam width obtained from the proposed model with those calculated using equations employed by the current code according to three wall-slab joint specimens, it has been demonstrated the usefulness and accuracy of the proposed method, which works better than the current code method for the wall-slab joints in TWTS cases.