Influence of diaphragm opening on seismic response of rectangular RC buildings with end shear walls

Routinely, behavior of floor diaphragms is assumed completely rigid in their plane, which leads to erroneous results in analysis and design of some particular buildings. In this study, 4-story RC buildings, with end shear walls and plan aspect ratio of 3, are considered in order to investigate the influence of diaphragm openings on their seismic response. It is concluded that although in-plane floor flexibility has enormous effects on pre-yielding part of pushover curve, it has no influence on post-yielding part of that. Furthermore, the opening beside shear walls has crucial impact on response of building. Hence, it would be better off avoiding opening near the shear walls; if not, the in-plane flexibility of diaphragm has not to be overlooked even if the plan aspect ratio of building is 3.