Design and analysis of steel‐concrete hybrid coupled walls with hinged base and corner components

The seismic performance of hybrid coupled walls (HCWs) made of a single reinforced concrete (RC) wall connected to two steel side columns by means of steel links is studied in this article. Steel links are designed as dissipative elements while the RC wall and the steel side columns should remain elastic. Given that previous studies highlighted the difficulties in avoiding damage at the base of the RC wall due to the concentration of bending moment, the scheme with fixed base is modified in this study with the adoption of a hinged connection and vertical steel elements called corner components. A ductile design methodology is proposed and applied to the design of case studies with different building heights (three and six stories) and different base conditions (fixed base and hinged base with corner components). Moreover, the influence of uniform and variable distributions of links along the building height is assessed. Results of pushover analyses are presented to validate the design methodology and provide insight into the structural response of the proposed solution, showing the benefits of a hinged base with corner components.