Seismic behaviour of coupling beams in a hybrid coupled shear walls

Steel coupling beams in a hybrid coupled shear wall provide a viable alternative for concrete coupling beams coupling individual reinforced concrete wall piers. Due to the lack of information, current design methods for calculating embedment lengths are silent about cases in which hybrid coupled walls have connection details of stud bolts and horizontal ties. In this work, an analytical study was carried out to develop a model for calculating the embedment lengths of embedded steel sections. Five models for calculating embedment lengths in a hybrid coupled wall are developed as variations of the Prestressed Concrete Institute guidelines for steel brackets attached to reinforced concrete columns. In addition, experimental studies on the hybrid coupled shear wall were carried out. The main test variables were the ratios of the coupling beam strength to the connection strength. The test results indicate that it is more advantageous to design the coupling beams as shear yielding members since the shear-critical coupling beam exhibits a more desirable mode of energy dissipation than the flexure-critical coupling beam.