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Coupled Composite Plate Shear Walls — Concrete Filled (C-PSW/CF)

Steel plate modules filled with concrete replace reinforcing bars entirely ("SpeedCore"). ASCE 7-22 added the coupled system to Table 12.2-1 with R = 8, Ω₀ = 2.5, C_d = 5.5. The coupling beams are designed to yield in flexure first. Defaults reproduce the FEMA P-2192 ten-story example.

1 · Composite coupling beam (filled box)

Width b (in.)

Depth h (in.)

Flange plate t_f (in.)

Web plate t_w (in.)

Clear length L (in.)

F_y (ksi)

f′_c (ksi)

R_y

R_c

M_u (kip-ft)

V_u (kips)

2 · Composite wall (unit width between ties)

Plate t_p (in.)

Wall thickness t_sc (in.)

Tie spacing S (in.)

Tie diameter (in.)

Unbraced length L_cr (in.)

E_c (ksi)

Leg length L_w of each L-wall (in.)

Number of unit strips

Required compression P_u (kips)

F_y, f′_c and R_y are taken from section 1. Flexural strength of the full L-shaped wall requires a fibre (plastic stress) analysis of the whole section and is outside the scope of this tool.

Sources and verification

AnchorFEMA P-2192-V1, 2020 NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions: Design Examples (2021, public domain), Chapter 5 — reproduced in tests/aisc-cpswcf-us.test.js: coupling beam M_p = 1,407 kip-ft (φM_n 1,266), M_p,exp = 1,582.6 kip-ft, V_n = 592 kips, V_n,exp = 657 ≥ 2.4·M_p,exp/L = 380 kips (flexure-critical); wall P_no = 1,518, P_e = 1,797, P_n = 1,066 kips per 12-in. strip, 48 strips φP_n = 46,051 kips; ties S/t_p = 24 ≤ 24.1. AISC 360-22, AISC 341-22 and AISC Design Guide 37 are cited by section only.

Book notesThree formula misprints in FEMA P-2192 Chapter 5 were found; its numbers are consistent with the correct forms used here: the plastic-neutral-axis formula prints b_CB in the numerator (h_CB is right — b would give 4.18 in. instead of 6.15 in.); the web force C₂ prints an extra t_f; and the column curve prints 0.685 instead of 0.658 (0.685 would give 1,103 instead of 1,066 kips). The book also accepts a web slenderness of 61.3 against a limit of 61.1 (0.3 % over) — this tool flags it. For the strip buckling check the book takes the moment of inertia about the axis whose depth is the tie spacing S (the smaller of the two orientations); the tool reports which orientation governs.