Non-planar coupled shear walls with stiffening beams

This paper concerns itself with the static analysis of non-planar coupled shear walls with any number of stiffening beams. Furthermore, the change of the heights of the stories and connecting beams from region to region along the height are taken into consideration. The stiffening of coupled shear walls is realized by placing high connecting beams at the levels of whole or partial stories used as storage or service areas. The analysis is based on Vlasov's theory of thin-walled beams and Continuous Connection Method (CCM). In the analysis, the compatibility equation has been written at the midpoints of the connecting and stiffening beams. The method of analysis presented was compared with the SAP2000 structural analysis program. The results obtained showed good agreement, verifying the accuracy of the proposed method, which can efficiently be used for the pre-design computations of tall buildings.