Stiffened coupled shear walls

An analytical method for investigating the effect of a stiffening beam on coupled shear walls is presented. Closed-form solutions to the problem based on the continuous medium technique are obtained with the position of the stiffening beam placed somewhere along the structural height as a variable. The results of analysis for a typical structure demonstrate that great beneficial effects on the structural behavior can be achieved by installing a stiffening beam at about 0.2 to 0.5 of the structural height in the coupled shear walls, depending on whether the condition for the minimum value of the laminar shear, the base moment, or the top deflection is to be made. © ASCE