Title:
Response of Heavily Reinforced High-Strength Concrete Coupling Beams
Author(s):
Andrew W. Fisher, Evan C. Bentz, and Michael P. Collins
Publication:
Structural Journal
Volume:
114
Issue:
6
Appears on pages(s):
1483-1494
Keywords:
coupling beams; cover spalling; maximum shear strength; shear strain; stiffness; strain penetration
DOI:
10.14359/51689501
Date:
11/1/2017
Abstract:
Understanding the strength and stiffness of coupling beams is essential when determining the lateral performance of coupled shear wall high-rise concrete buildings. This paper investigates these properties using full-scale experiments and comparative analytical studies. Adequate strength and ductility can be achieved with shear-critical coupling beams by using large amounts of welldetailed stirrups, even if these exceed the ACI Code upper limits on shear capacity. These limits are shown to penalize the strength of heavily reinforced, high-strength concrete coupling beams. Shear and localized wall deformations contribute significantly to the overall beam response. Ignoring either of these deformations can result in over-predicting the lateral stiffness of the building. The new program Response is shown to be a powerful tool to accurately predict load-deformation behavior, having an average test-to-prediction ratio for shear strength of 1.04, and 1.14 for the displacement at peak load.