Optimized design procedure for coupling panels in steel plate shear walls

Coupling beams have had a widespread application as performance enhancing devices within concrete structures and more recently also in steel structures. However, the conventional coupling beams are not so efficient in coupling distant walls. In this paper, a novel form of coupling members, namely, coupling panels is proposed and, then, the application for a nine-story building is investigated. Coupling panels are steel plates which are exerted in the intermediate spans between adjacent shear walls and act as a mega-coupling beam. First, a verified finite element model is constructed to demonstrate coupling panel behavior along with its global structural mechanism. Subsequently, a nine story building is designed and retrofitted as a new and existing building, using coupling panels. Moreover, an innovative optimization algorithm is proposed in order to achieve the best plate configuration to improve the structural performance using Nonlinear Static Analysis, Modal Pushover Analysis and Time History Analysis and the corresponding results are compared. In summary, it is shown that coupling panels can considerably control structural deformation demands toward a uniform pattern and reduce demands of main shear walls. The optimized design method also leads to a more economical design in comparison with force-based design approaches. In addition, the proposed coupling panels are shown to be significantly effective, regarding to energy dissipation during earthquakes, and can enhance the structural resiliency. Copyright (C) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.