Investigating the behavior factor of coupled concrete shear walls with steel coupling beam

The behavior factor is used to reduce the elastic spectrum ordinate or the forces obtained from a linear analysis in order to take into account the non-linear structural properties. The more accurate this parameter is estimated, the more exact responses of the structures will be obtained. Recently, coupled walls with steel coupling beams are extensively utilized as an efficient system against lateral forces in high-rise buildings. But, there is not enough information about the behavior of these walls during earthquake, and design codes have not suggested any behavior factor for this structural system. Consequently, this paper is devoted to find the behavior factor of this structural system. To achieve this goal, six-, twelve- and twenty-story buildings are assessed. Except for the number of stories, all characteristicsof these buildings are completely similar. Buidlings’ height, the length of the coupling beams and the coupling ratio are key parameters which influence the behavior factor of the aforesaid structural system. In this work, the effect of these parameters on this factor are studied.