Seismic Response of Composite Coupled Walls

In many structures, height restrictions may require coupling of reinforced concrete walls by structural steel beams rather than conventional reinforced concrete beams. Through an experimental program, the seismic performance of this type of composite system was evaluated. The stiffness, energy dissipation capability, and hysteresis characteristics were studied. Simple design guidelines were developed. The experimental results were extended analytically to study the performance of a multistory structure with composite coupled walls.