Citation :

Heydi Karina Hinostroza Maravi, Erick Oswaldo Gamboa Tolentino, Lileana Carolina Saavedra Robles, "Influence of Reinforced Concrete Wall Mesh Size on Seismic Response and Its Relationship with Building Height," International Journal of Civil Engineering, vol. 13, no. 7, pp. 262-275, 2026. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23488352/IJCE-V13I7P117

Abstract

The modeling of reinforced concrete walls in ETABS may be influenced by the mesh size adopted in the model. In this regard, the present study evaluates the influence of mesh size and its relationship with building height. The objective is to analyze the combined effect of meshing and height and to assess their influence on global and local parameters of the structural response. For this purpose, the seismic design of a 15-story building was performed in accordance with Standard E.030, after which the height was progressively varied down to 5 stories, resulting in a total of 11 models. In all models, the walls were discretized using mesh sizes of 1 m, 0.8 m, 0.6 m, 0.4 m, and 0.2 m, and the results were obtained from modal response spectrum dynamic analysis. The results showed that, as the mesh size decreases, interstory drifts and vibration periods progressively increase, with a greater influence observed in the taller models. For base shear, the variations were smaller, although increasing or decreasing trends were observed depending on the analysis direction, particularly in models taller than 10 stories. Regarding the internal forces in the walls, axial forces and bending moments exhibited greater changes with finer meshing compared with shear forces.

Keywords

Base Shears, Interstory drifts, Etabs, Internal forces in walls, Wall meshing.

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