This work is done in the framework of the ECOLEADER program - European consortium of laboratories for earthquake and dynamic experimental research - to improve our knowledge on the vulnerability of reinforced concrete structural walls submitted to seismic loadings. A modelling strategy based on Euler - Bernoulli or Timoshenko multifiber beams is presented. Constitutive laws are based on plasticity for steel and damage mechanics for concrete. This simplified model permits to reproduce the global behaviour of reinforced concrete structures under dynamic loading. Critical zones and damage distributions are also correctly predicted. Non linear dynamic calculations are the only ones able to simulate the variation of the axial force and thus they are a necessary tool for the design and conception of new buildings.
