Design coupling beams based on

ACI318-14M & Eurocode 8

Pham Quang Chien – C&S Engineer – Tham & Wong (Vietnam)

1 11/1/16
co.,ltd.
 Design coupling beams based on
ACI318-14M & Eurocode 8

1. About coupling beams

2. Design procedure in ACI318-14M
&EC8
3. Examples

Pham Quang Chien – C&S Engineer – Tham & Wong (Vietnam)

2 11/1/16
co.,ltd.
 Design coupling beams based on
ACI318-14M & Eurocode 8
1.About coupling beams
. Coupling beams are a very important member of a lateral force
resisting system. It couples two independent systems.
. When you have two independent shear walls or concentric braced
frames or anything that is helping you to resist lateral loads and
you want to connect them to reduce the overturning effect or
increase the overall stiffness of the system then you will use a
coupling beam to connect both the systems.

. As shown in image below, it is connecting two individual piers of

shear core. Imagine the deformation of the shear wall when a
lateral load is applied from left to right and they were not coupled
(connected). Both piers will move independently without any
harmony and this will further complicate the behavior so to make
them as a solid core we use the coupling beam to transfer force
from one pier to another
Pham Quang Chien – C&S Engineer – Tham & Wong (Vietnam)
3 11/1/16
co.,ltd.
 Design coupling beams based on
ACI318-14M & Eurocode 8
1.About coupling beams

Pham Quang Chien – C&S Engineer – Tham & Wong (Vietnam)

4 11/1/16
co.,ltd.
 Design coupling beams based on
ACI318-14M & Eurocode 8
1.About coupling beams
. In order for the desired behavior of the coupled wall system to be
attained, the coupling beams must be sufficiently strong and stiff.
The
coupling beams, however, must also yield before the wall piers,
behave in a
ductile manner, and exhibit significant energy absorbing
characteristics

Pham Quang Chien – C&S Engineer – Tham & Wong (Vietnam)

5 11/1/16
co.,ltd.
 Design coupling beams based on
ACI318-14M & Eurocode 8
1.About coupling beams
There are two different types of coupling beams:
a. Conventionally reinforced coupling beam:
This is just a regular type of beam with horizontal top and bottom
reinforcement and shear ties. This beam is used when the aspect
ration of the beam is large or the beam is pretty long compared to
its depth. A long beam is a flexible one which means it can form
moment hinges at the ends and the failure is ductile failure.
b. Diagonally reinforced coupling beam
When the beam's aspect ratio is small, say depth of beam is very
similar to length, then the failure of beam is shear governed and the
beam will see a brittle failure. To resist brittle failure we provide
diagonal bars in coupling beam which will help in resisting shear
and it will also reduce the amount of shear reinforcement required

Pham Quang Chien – C&S Engineer – Tham & Wong (Vietnam)

6 11/1/16
co.,ltd.
 Design coupling beams based on
ACI318-14M & Eurocode 8
2. Design procedure in ACI318-
ACI 318-14M
14M &EC8 (clause Eurocode 8 (clause
18.10.7) 5.5.3.5)
Conditions Types Conditions Types

ln Conventionally  ln Conventionally
4  3
reinf. h reinf.
h 
 Ved  f ctd bwd
Diagonally reinf.
ln
 2 & Vu  0.33 f c Acw
'

h If not satisfied, Diagonally

check this equation:
CB not governed Both reinf.
by 2 conditions conventionally & Ved  2 Asi f yd sin 
above diagonally reinf.

Pham Quang Chien – C&S Engineer – Tham & Wong

7 11/1/16
(Vietnam) co.,ltd.
 Design coupling beams based on
ACI318-14M & Eurocode 8
3. Examples and detailing

Pham Quang Chien – C&S Engineer – Tham & Wong (Vietnam)

8 11/1/16
co.,ltd.
 Design coupling beams based on
ACI318-14M & Eurocode 8
3.1. Detailing based on ACI

Pham Quang Chien – C&S Engineer – Tham & Wong (Vietnam)

9 11/1/16
co.,ltd.
Confinement of
individual diagonals

Pham Quang Chien – C&S Engineer – Tham & Wong

10 11/1/16
(Vietnam) co.,ltd.
Confinement of
diagonally RC beam section

Pham Quang Chien – C&S Engineer – Tham & Wong

11 11/1/16
(Vietnam) co.,ltd.