Height determination for Seismic design

[hydraulicstr]

I have a single story building. When calculating weight of wall , the height of wall should be calculated from bottom of the wall or bottom of the slab?

 

[MacGruber22]

You only need to consider the height of wall that is tributary to the diaphragm under consideration. In your case, it is the roof diaphragm. It won't make a difference which height you divide by 2 to get your wall mass for a typical single story building. The difference can't be much more than 2-ft. By the time you take your base shear and distribute to all of the lateral resisting elements, that extra bit of wall mass will round out.

"It is imperative Cunth doesn't get his hands on those codes."

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

The location of the "base" depends on how the ground motion forces are transferred into your structure. Do you have a cross-section of the foundation/wall/slab detail?

Professional and Structural Engineer (ME, NH, MA)
American Concrete Industries

http://www.americanconcrete.com