Ductility of Low-rise Reinforced Concrete coupled shear wall structures

RC shear walls are one of the best known type of seismic-resisting structures. They proved their great potential of energy dissipation and ductility during past earthquakes. Construction of coupled shear wall structures with door or window openings is unavoidable in some cases. Ductility and other behavior factors of RC coupled shear walls are mostly affected by opening and geometry properties and these factors should be considered in a safe design. Unfortunately no design provisions or code had presented before for seismic design of RC coupled shear wall structures and lack of them could lead designers to an unsafe design. Comprehensive study on the effects of both geometry and opening properties is essential for a safe design procedure. In this study effects of opening on ductility of low-rise RC coupled shear wall structures have investigated.