Experimental and numerical study of Steel Corrugated-Plate Coupling Beam connecting shear walls

A Steel Corrugated-Plate Coupling Beam (SCPCB) formed by a steel corrugated plate and its boundary elements has found its application as a coupling beam connecting two adjacent shear walls on its two sides. As the most advantage, it could behave as both high lateral-resistant components and good energy dissipating devices even when a thin steel web is required in the design of SCPCBs. This paper presents experimental and numerical studies on the shear-carrying capacity and energy-dissipating capability of SCPCBs. The experimental tests of three specimens are conducted in this study; one focusing on the monotonic behaviors, and the other two on the shear-cyclic behaviors. The loading processes of experimental specimens are simulated numerically via finite element analysis (FEA). Experimental and FEA results show a good agreement, indicating that SCPCBs have high shear capacities, good ductility, and energy dissipation capability even in the thin steel webs of SCPCBs. Besides, an additional parameter investigation of the SCPCBs is carried out via the validated FE model by changing the size of the steel corrugated plate and its boundary elements on two sides. As a result, a lower restraining stiffness ratio of out-of-plane flexural stiffness between the vertical boundary elements to the steel corrugated plate is established for the strength design of SCPCBs. By meeting this lower restraining stiffness ratio, the static and hysterical behaviors of SCPCBs are improved significantly.