Performance-Based Design and Innovative Hybrid Systems to Overcome Design and Construction Challenges of Diagonally-Reinforced Coupling Beams

Coupled core walls (CCWs) are attractive lateral-force resisting systems with remarkable lateral stiffness. The extent of the lateral stiffness depends on the type of coupling beams used to couple the wall piers. Current building codes essentially imply the use of diagonally-reinforced coupling beams with practical span-to-depth ratio of two to four. Inherent difficulties associated with design and construction of diagonally-reinforced coupling beams are major impediments for CCWs, and are often cited as one of the primary reasons for selecting other systems despite the many advantages that CCWs offer. Performance-based design (PBD) paradigms and/or innovative systems offer viable alternatives to overcome these difficulties. This paper provides an overview of these two options.