CIVILTech Capacity Pro: Concrete Wall Engine for the capacity design of reinforced concrete structural walls

Thomas Paulay and Robert Park held that the designer must decide where the plastic hinge forms and protect the rest of the structure from brittle failure modes. In a reinforced concrete structural wall this means a ductile flexural hinge at the base and a design shear that keeps the wall from failing in shear first.

CIVILTech | Capacity Pro: Concrete Wall Engine

DIADICA Synthetic Core developed this calculation engine under the capacity design philosophy (NSR-10 / ACI 318-19). It relies on three numerical procedures.

1. Strain compatibility (bisection method)

Instead of an isolated rectangular stress block, the iterative engine solves the axial equilibrium of the discretized section under the plane-sections assumption. This gives the position of the actual neutral axis and its shift as the boundary elements yield.

2. Displacement-based ductility control

The need for special boundary elements (SBE) is not decided from linear elastic stresses alone. The system evaluates the global kinematic demand.

3. Capacity protection for shear

Design shear is not taken directly from linear elastic analysis. It is calculated as the shear associated with developing the probable flexural capacity (Mpr), including steel overstrength (1.25 fy) and dynamic amplification factors.

Capacity Pro is available to other firms and is demonstrated at a meeting. To book one, write to oscar@diadicaing.com.