Effect of Opening Dimensions on the Relative Flexural Operation of Coupled Shear Walls

Effect of openings’ dimensions on the relative flexural behavior of adjacent piers (independent or conjugate) in perforated shear walls is addressed. 384 designed models were made and exposed to lateral loads. For middle openings, in addition to the alpha parameter in the literature, the relative flexural behavior of piers in medium-rise buildings can be predicted as function of thickness-to-length ratio of the coupling beam and the ratio of the coupling beam length to the pier length; but in high-rise buildings, it is always conjugate. For corner openings, the alpha parameter must be modified with respect to the number of stories.