ABSTRACT

Radical Concrete Technology. Edited by R K Dhir and P C Hewlett. Published in 1996 by E & FN Spon, 2-6 Boundary Row, London SE1 8HN, UK. ISBN 0 419 21480 1. ABSTRACT. The continuous medium technique has been widely used in the preliminary analysis and design of coupled shear walls in tall buildings by practicing engineers for many years. One of the basic assumptions made when using this approximate method is that the coupling beams deform with points of contraflexure at mid-span. However, when there is a non-negligible difference between the stiffness’ of the structural walls connected by the coupling beams, the points of contraflexure of the beams can move offcentre, and hence noticeable error in the analysis may occurred. This paper presents a study on the accuracy of the continuous medium technique for the preliminary analysis of concrete coupled structural walls with unequal width. Comparison of the analytical results between the technique and the wide-column analogy has been made, and recommendations for using continuum method to analyse the coupled shear walls are presented. Keywords: Coupled shear walls, Coupling beams, Tall buildings, Reinforced concrete. Dr J S Kuang is Lecturer in Structural Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His research interests include structural analysis and design of tall buildings, reinforced and prestressed concrete, and design for earthquake resistance. zv184 INTRODUCTION Reinforced concrete coupled structural walls are widely used in tall buildings to provide lateral resistance against external horizontal loads caused by wind or earthquakes. This type of structure is recognised as one of the most efficient structural systems for such purpose. During the past two decades, a considerable volume of research on the analysis of coupled shear walls has been published, and a summary of different principal methods of analysis has been provided by Stafford Smith and Coull [1].