In the design of low- and mid-rise precast, prestressed concrete buildings, shear wall assemblies have been used for several decades to provide adequate lateral stability against wind and seismic forces. Making use of the finite element (FE) procedure and a relatively simple, but reliable method of analysis, this study compares the deformations and force responses of three building layouts to lateral loads by the two procedures. In both procedures, linear elastic behavior was assumed. Various wall assembly combinations were considered ranging from planar walls to L-, T- or U-shaped sections. The number of stories varied between three and eight. The comparison shows that the simpler beam model yields force and displacement results that are very close to the more complex FE procedure. It is concluded that the beam model is an adequate and reliable alternative to the more refined FE approach.
