A two-span transfer plate–shear wal

A two-span transfer plate–shear wall model is shown in Figure 13, in which the shear wall is located at the mid-span of the plate and subjected to a uniformly distributed load w. Similar to that of a single- span plate–wall system discussed, the behaviour of a continuous transfer plate–shear wall system is also significantly influenced by the structural interaction between the plate and upper walls. Particu- larly, the vertical loads are generally transferred to the edges of the plate or the support regions along a primary arch in the whole span of the wall and then secondary arches in each span of the plate (Kuang and Puvvala, 1996). The primary arch is responsible for transferring the major part of the loading to exterior support regions, while the secondary arches are responsible for transferring the remaining part of the loading to the interior support regions. The final distribution of internal forces and stresses of the plate and walls will be the superposition of these two different arching actions.