Behavioural Study on Multi-Storeyed Buildings with Solid, Coupled and Shear Wall with Openings Chaithra S PG Student , Civil Engineering Department, Christ Knowledge City, Muvattupuzha, Kerala. Er. Anue Marry Mathew Asst.Professor, Civil Engineering Department, Christ Knowledge City, Muvattupuzha, Kerala. Abstract—Finite element modelling is the commonly use method for analyzing different of kinds of civil engineering related problems. The present study considers the behaviour mutli- storey buildings without shear walls and with solid, coupled and shear wall with staggered openings under both static and dynamic loads. Shear walls are vertical members provided in the buildings to resist the lateral loads during the events of earthquake and wind. Functionality is ensured by the provision of openings. Coupled shear walls are shear wall systems with a coupling beam used in medium and high rise structures to resist lateral forces. These dual systems should not collapse or induce severe damage during earthquake events. So coupled shear walls must have high strength, high ductility, high energy absorption capacity and high shear stiffness to reduce deformation in lateral direction. Staggered arrangement of openings in shear walls provides both the architectural and the seismic requirements; capacity of walls with staggered openings to dissipate seismic energy is a function of the vertical positioning of the door openings,. A comparative study is done on multi- storeyed buildings without shear wall and with coupled, solid and staggered opening shear wall using ETABS. Keywords—Base Moment; Coupling Beam; Coupling Degree; Diagonal Reinforcement; Staggered Openings. I. INTRODUCTION Earthquakes and wind are phenomenon pertaining to nature but induce devastating effect on buildings particularly in high rise buildings. Hence the buildings should be protected from such phenomenon by employment of special structural components. Shear wall systems are reinforced wall systems used as lateral load resisting members in high-rise buildings. Shear walls posses a high in plane stiffness and strength, which can be used to resist large horizontal loads and support gravity loads simultaneously, making them really useful in many structural engineering applications. Their size and location of are extremely critical. A symmetrical location in plan is recommended to reduce the effect of twisting in buildings. The efficiency of the solid shear walls makes their use desirable, but equipping them does not meet functional necessity. In such a scenario the concept of a shear wall with openings or coupled shear walls came into consideration. A coupled shear wall is part of a shear wall system, consisting of coupling beams and wall piers, increasing the functional flexibility of structure. Eventually by coupling individual flexural walls, the overturning moments are resisted partially by an axial compression–tension couple across the wall system than by the individual flexural action of the walls. Staggered openings are another option for providing functionality. The staggered opening shear walls developed a ductile failure, whereas regular openings walls developed a brittle failure. The staggered opening shear walls are more rigid and demanded much less reinforcement. Thus capacity to dissipate seismic energy is a function of the openings provided. These specially fitted buildings are studied under the effect of linear as well as non linear loading as the earthquake effect mitigation is an important consideration. II. PREVIOUS STUDIES The study on shear walls have been done from time immemorial and a number of researches were carried out to rule out non- functionality of shear walls. This element of non functionality was eliminated through implementing the provision of openings by coupled shear walls, regular opening shear walls and staggered openings shear walls. Sharman Reza Chowdhury, M.A. Rahman, M.J. Islam and A.K. Das modeled a nine story frame-shear wall building using ETABS and studied the effects of openings in solid type shear wall of thickness 220mm. Their study revealed that stiffness and seismic response in terms of lateral displacement, storey drift of the structure is affected by the size of openings and location of openings in shear walls. Mosoarca Marius modeled a six story shear wall of thickness 120 mm and loaded them statically with cycles of horizontal loads. He reached the conclusion that, for the same amount of reinforcement and for the same layout, the walls with staggered openings showed a ductile failure, whereas the framed structure with regular openings developed a brittle failure. Yanez F.V., R. Park and T. Paulay studied on seismic behaviour of R.C. walls with square openings of varying size and different arrangement subjected to reversed cyclic loading. He came to the inference that the stiffness of walls is dependent on the size of the openings with less regard to their horizontal location. An extensive research from past shows that the coupled shear walls are the powerful systems and could be reliable and viable in any kind of circumstances by the attachment of a coupling beam. International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) ISSN: 2278-0181 Published by, www.ijert.org ICCEECON - 2K16 Conference Proceedings Volume 4, Issue 13 Special Issue - 2016