Energy dissipation characteristics of steel coupling beams with corrugated webs

Steel coupling beams are considered as an efficient alternative to reinforced concrete coupling beams in coupled shear wall systems. The application of corrugated webs as an alternative to flat webs with stiffeners in steel coupling beams has been lately proposed and its effective role in improving the ultimate rotation capacity of such beams has been demonstrated in published studies. However, the energy absorption characteristics of corrugated-web steel coupling beams have not been investigated. In this paper, the energy dissipation characteristics as well as cyclic performance of steel coupling beams with flat and corrugated webs are investigated through detailed numerical simulations. To this end and following the validation of the numerical simulation, numerous finite element models have been developed based on several key parameters including the flat, trapezoidal, curved, and zigzag web-plate corrugation forms, web thickness, number of corrugation half-waves, and corrugation angle. In addition to the advantages of application of corrugated webs in eliminating the web stiffeners and improving the ultimate rotation capacity in steel coupling beams, results and findings of this study demonstrate that corrugated-web steel coupling beams possess appropriate energy absorption characteristics and are capable of dissipating the input energy in a quite desirable and efficient manner. Moreover, it is shown that the energy dissipation capabilities of such coupling beams can be effectively improved via efficient design and proper adjustment of corrugation parameters. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.