Shear walls are usually tested with continuous load spreader connected along the top of shear walls. The stiffness of the load spreader, which represents the restraint from upper floor or storey, has a direct impact on the performance of shear walls. In this paper, a testing program designed to study the effect of upper storey or floor on the properties of shear walls is presented. Sixteen matched full-size single- storey shear walls, 6.0m in length and 2.44m in height, connected with flexible and rigid load spreaders were tested. In addition, four full-size shear walls representing a typical two-storey configuration were tested. Comparison in terms of initial stiffness, ultimate load and displacement, energy dissipation and failure modes are presented. Methods to consider the effect of upper storey/floor are discussed.
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