Inelastic distribution of horizontal forces between structural bracing elements in tall building

The tall buildings, employing shear wall assemblies to resist lateral wind forces and seismic loads provides an economic method of utilizing expensive land. The presence of these assemblies within the tall buildings with the frame interaction has presented complex problems to the structural analyst specially for elasto plastic analysis.Tall buildings are uniquely characterized by requiring that thelateral loads being a major design consideration.The structural behaviour of reinforced concrete coupled shear walls is greatly influenced by the behaviour of their coupling beams. The behaviour of coupling beams depends on the geometry of the beams and the strength characteristics of the concrete and reinforcement, therefore the study of coupling beams and the assessment of their ultimate strength, is an essential part in the study of coupled shear wall structures.A test program has been carried out to study the behaviour of coupling beams and the effect of both flexural and shear reinforcement on the ulimate capacity, failure mode and ductility. Nine models of approximately half full size of a proto-type were constructed with variables as steel percentages, steel type, degree of confinement anddegree of anchoragement.