A Conceptual Design Approach of Coupled Shear Walls

Table 1

Rotation capacities for coupling beams controlled by flexure as per FEMA 273 [14] and FEMA 356 [15].

Type of coupling beam	Conditions	Plastic Rotation Capacity (Radians)
	Shear/𝑡𝑤𝐿𝑤𝑓^′𝑐	IO	LS	CP
Conventional longitudinal reinforcement with conforming transverse reinforcement	≤3	0.006	0.015	0.025
	≥6	0.005	0.010	0.015
Conventional longitudinal reinforcement with non-conforming transverse reinforcement	≤3	0.006	0.012	0.020
	≥6	0.005	0.008	0.010
Diagonal Reinforcement	NA	0.006	0.018	0.030
Flexure dominant steel coupling beam	𝑏𝑓/2𝑡𝑓≤52/𝐹𝑦 and ℎ/𝑡𝑤′≤418/𝐹𝑦	1𝜃𝑦	6𝜃𝑦	8𝜃𝑦
	𝑏𝑓/2𝑡𝑓≥65/𝐹𝑦 and ℎ/𝑡𝑤′≥640/𝐹𝑦	0.25𝜃𝑦	2𝜃𝑦	3𝜃𝑦