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Vertical Shear Force Accumulation

Shear line forces from upper level shear walls are transmitted to shear walls on the level below differently depending on whether the it is rigid or flexible diaphragm design and the configuration of upper story walls relative to lower story walls.

Refer to Rigid Diaphragm Vertical Transfer, Flexible Diaphragm Vertical Transfer, and Vertical Transfer for Flexible Diaphragms with Torsions for more details.

In each of these methods, the shear line force from the upper floor is transmitted to the diaphragm below, then to the shear resisting elements below it. Therefore no attempt is made to consider the distribution of full height segments on the upper floor relative to the lower floor when determining how much load goes into the segments below. The upper shear force is treated as a point force striking the top of the lower walls, added to the shear force V from the applied loads on the lower level, and then distributed along the lower shear line as described in Horizontal Force Distribution Within Shear Line

It is the responsibility of the designer to design the connections or shear-transfer mechanism that transfers the shear force in this manner.

In This Section

Rigid Diaphragm Vertical Transfer

Flexible Diaphragm Vertical Transfer

Vertical Transfer for Flexible Diaphragms with Torsions

See Also

Shear Force Distribution

Load Distribution to Shear Lines

Force Distribution within Shear Line