Research Structural Engineering & Mechanics Featured PublicationPerformance-Based Design of Coupled Wall Structures
For more information on Dr. Harries' research, please visit his
faculty biography page |
Coupled Core walls (CCW's) are complex yet attractive lateral load resisting
systems that provide extraordinary stiffness without compromising valuable horizontal
or vertical space. Use of core walls is expected to increase in the future as more
owners focus on life safety issues associated with fire and catastrophic loading in
their buildings. A number of major obstacles have to be overcome before such growth,
particularly in high seismic zones, becomes a reality; however, research on CCWs lags
significantly behind other structural systems, and the existing knowledge base is
inadequate to overcome these obstacles.
Dr. Harries has been studying the behavior of CCWs since his graduate work at McGill
University, where he focused on the development coupling beams having enhanced ductility.
Along with collaborators including Dr. Bahram Shahrooz at the University of Cincinnati,
Dr. Yahya Kurama at Notre Dame and Paul Brienen of PCSA in Tacoma WA, the current emphasis
of Dr. Harries' work is the development of performance-based methodologies and tools for
designing these deceptively complex structures.
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Structural research
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