This paper presents a numerical model for simulating the nonlinear response of reinforced
concrete (RC) shear walls subject to cyclic loadings. The material behavior of cracked concrete is
described by an orthotropic constitutive relation with tension-stiffening and compression softening effects
defining equivalent uniaxial stress-strain relation in the axes of orthotropy. Especially in making analytical
predictions for inelastic behaviors of RC walls under reversed cyclic loading, some influencing factors
inducing the material nonlinearities have been considered. A simple hysteretic stress-strain relation of
concrete, which crosses the tension-compression region, is defined. Modification of the hysteretic stressstrain
relation of steel is also introduced to reflect a pinching effect depending on the shear span ratio and
to represent an average stress distribution in a cracked RC element, respectively. To assess the
applicability of the constitutive model for RC element, analytical results are compared with idealized
shear panel and shear wall test results under monotonic and cyclic shear loadings.