Investigating the behavior factor of coupled concrete shear walls with steel coupling beam

Abstract

The behavior factor is used to reduce ordinates of the elastic spectrum or the forces detected by linear analysis to take into account the non-linear structural properties. The more accurate this parameter is estimated, the more exact the responses of structures will be. Recently, coupled walls with steel coupling beams have been extensively utilized as an efficient system against lateral forces in high-rise buildings. However, there is not enough information about the behavior of these walls during earthquake, and design codes do not specify any specific behavior factor of this structural system. Consequently, this paper aims to find the behavior factor of this structural system. To this end, 6-, 12-, and 20-story buildings were assessed. Except for the number of stories, these buildings shared the same characteristics. Building's height, length of coupling beams, and the coupling ratio were key parameters that inuenced the behavior factor of the aforesaid structural system. In this work, the effect of these parameters on this factor was studied.