Shear strength is considered at horizontal and vertical section cuts using the provisions for beams given in BS8110-1:1997 Clause 3.4.5.

Vertical section cuts intersect only one wall and will therefore have rectangular cross-sections. Hence, application of Clause 3.4.5 is straightforward.

Horizontal section cuts can have more complex cross-sections since they may intersect multiple walls in the wall design group. The method described below has been used to apply the code provision to a wall group composed of a number of walls oriented arbitrarily.