Accurate and Efficient Simulation of Cyclic Behavior of Diagonally Reinforced Concrete Coupling Beams

Abstract

Diagonally reinforced concrete coupling beams (DRCB) play an important role in coupled shear wall systems since these members dissipate most seismic input energy during earthquakes. For reliable seismic performance evaluation using nonlinear response history analyses, it is important to use an accurate analytical model for DRCBs. In this study, the Pinching4 model is used as a base model to simulate the cyclic behavior of DRCBs. To simulate the cyclic behavior of DRCBs using the Pinching4 model, the constituent modeling parameters for backbone curve, pinching, and cyclic deterioration in strength and stiffness should be computed. To determine the proper values of the constituent modeling parameters accurately and efficiently, this study proposes empirical equations for the modeling parameters using forward stepwise regression analyses. This study shows that the cyclic behavior of DRCBs is accurately simulated using the Pinching4 model with constituent parameters calculated from the proposed empirical equations.