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Dear mhdhamood, 1- In case of seismic loading, the shearwall will take high moment and high shear. In case of seismic, it is not necessary that the design combination will be tension. If you talking about alone seismic load case, it can be tension. but when you design for load combs, it can be tension if seismic increases from DL and compression if not. 3- First of all you need to check the punching of slab for gravity loading. The thing which you are saying is 100% correct. But what your senior saying is also correct. I ll explain. What your senior are saying: This is right but not for code based design. You do not need to design the thickness of slab for seismic as in ACI code, you can design the members for gravity loading for the structures which are in high seismic areas ACI 21.13. You are designing the slab for out of plane forces. AND these out of plane forces as per ACI 21.13 we can design for gravity loading including shear and flexure. What you are saying: BUT you need to design the slab (diaphragm design) for inplane forces which are based on seismic demand. So yiu are not required to provide the thickness of slab for seismic loading as it will be out of plane forces. But you need to design this slab near shearwall are for inplane forces Now what you are saying is the next step. After providing the thickness of slab on gravity loading, we need to check the thickness of slab by checking it on slab beam behaviour and checking its rotation which is the next step and its details are not given in any code. There are guidelines which can be used to check these details like ATC 72. Thanks Muneeb

EngrJunaid, What you are doing is not enough. You need to make sure your walls are designed for axial load + out of plane bending & in-plane shear + bending. Also design requirements for roof diaphragms should be incorporated and serviceability limit states should be checked.. I would recommend you to get a good reference book at-least. I personally use Masonry Structures: Behaviour and Design There is so much in masonry that would be new to you. Like Mortar Types, Concepts about 1) Vertical and horizontal load transfer, 2) Distribution of Shear and Moment due to Lateral Load, 3) Torsional Effects etc. and most importantly 4) Masonry Shear Walls. If you know how to design one, you can save your client a lot in Pakistan since no one is focusing on building low-rise (up to 10 stories) masonry buildings. Thanks.

In general, yes. However, be careful to check other requirements (especially minimum sizes & reinforcement of confining members, with reference to wall density) for confined masonry design, as given in the document referred in para 1-b of my previous post, and the following guideline (more recent): http://www.world-housing.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/ConfinedMasonryDesignGuide82011.pdf Regards.

You have to see what your plans are. If you are planning to get a MS degree and settle abroad, then you should choose your MS discipline based on what civil industry is the hottest at that place. Normally every foreign university has a Pakistani Student Association now a days so that would be a good starting poin to ask about advice related to industry. For Pakistan, structures, geotech or transportation are the one I would place my money on. .

experience does not help in getting good grades/grades but should help one identify what to study in order to pursue particular career path.