COMPDYN 2015 5 th ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering M. Papadrakakis, V. Papadopoulos, V. Plevris (eds.) Crete Island, Greece, 25–27 May 2015 ASSESSMENT OF THE LATERAL STIFFNESS OF WALLS WITH OPENINGS Arturo Tena-Colunga 1 and Germán Rivera-Hernández 2 1 Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Departamento de Materiales Av. San Pablo 180, 02200 México, DF, MEXICO e-mail: atc@correo.azc.uam.mx 2 Procuraduría General de la República México, DF, MEXICO e-mail: germanriverahdez@gmail.com Keywords: Walls with Openings, Asymmetric Distribution of Openings along the Height, Elastic Lateral Stiffness, Lateral Displacements. Abstract. Approximations obtained with different simplified methods to assess the elastic lat- eral stiffness of walls with openings are compared to results obtained with the finite element method using reasonably fine meshes. Multistory walls were studied, considering symmetric and asymmetric distribution of openings with respect to a vertical axis. From the obtained results it can be observed that for a single strip of asymmetric perforated walls, the best ap- proximations are obtained using the equivalent frame method more commonly used in Mexico, the method proposed by Coull and Choudhury, as well as the method baptized as the equiva- lent no prismatic wide column analogy, particularly as the number of stories of the wall in- creases. 2123