As shown in a companion paper, the embedment length of steel-concrete composite coupling beams inside wall piers should be computed by incorporating the contribution of the encasement. In lieu of detailed fiber-based analytical techniques, a simple design-oriented model was developed and verified through testing of additional specimens with more realistic loading and boundary conditions. Moreover, the influence of face-bearing plates and floor slab was examined. The developed design method results in longer embedment length, and significantly enhanced energy-dissipating characteristics, strength, stiffness, and ductility. Additional improvements are possible by using face-bearings plates. The contribution of floor slab toward stiffness of the coupling beam is lost at small deformations and may be ignored. Slab participation toward the strength of the steel-concrete composite coupling beams is different from that anticipated for conventionally reinforced concrete beams because of the amount of equivalent reinforcement provided by the flanges of the steel coupling beam. References: 10
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