Evaluation of elastic properties and lateral stiffness of multi-ribbed walls based on equivalent elastic model

•Multi-ribbed wall consists of ribbed frames and light porous concrete filled in it.•Using Mori–Tanaka method to derive the equivalent elastic model.•The lateral stiffness of the anisotropic equivalent elastic wall is developed.•The accuracy of the developed method is verified by large-scale tests.•Compared to the other methods, the method in this paper is simple and convenient.

Multi-ribbed wall structure (MRWS) is a new structural system developed in recent years, where multi-ribbed walls are primary load-resistant elements. This paper is focused on evaluation of elastic properties and lateral stiffness of multi-ribbed walls for simplified analysis and design. Based on Mori–Tanaka method, an equivalent elastic model is developed first to predict the elastic properties of multi-ribbed walls and overcomes non-physical order of operation dependencies the other two methods face. An equation to calculate the lateral stiffness of the anisotropic equivalent elastic wall is then developed that is calibrated through a parametric study. The accuracy of the developed method is verified by large-scale tests. The present simplified method provides a valuable basis for designing high-rise multi-ribbed wall structures.