Structural performance of corrugated web steel coupling beams

In lateral force resisting systems, the structural behaviour and seismic performance of coupled shear walls depends on the coupling beams. Steel coupling beams are considered to be an efficient alternative to reinforced concrete coupling beams, and improve the ductility and performance of the coupled shear wall system. This paper considers the application of corrugated webs as an alternative to flat webs having stiffeners. Finite-element models are described and used to investigate the effect of changes to the shape of the web-plate; flat, trapezoidal, curved and zigzag patterns are considered as well as the thickness, number of corrugations and corrugation angle. The effect of these parameters on the structural performance of the coupling beams is determined under both monotonic and cyclic loadings. Results of pushover analyses show that the use of corrugated webs instead of stiffened flat webs can improve the rotation capacity of steel coupling beams and cyclic analyses show the high performance of the corrugated web steel coupling beams in dissipating energy. Furthermore, it is shown that the rotation capacity and energy dissipation capabilities of steel coupling beams are sensitive to corrugation parameters.