Despite the recently discussed importance in the literature, the conventional formulation of the classical sandwich beam has overlooked the local shear deformation mechanism inherent in coupled shear walls. Recent research has attempted to address this oversight; however, the proposed solutions often involve complexities, limited applicability, and substantial alterations to the fundamental characteristics of the classical sandwich beam. To preserve the progress achieved thus far, this study introduces a correction factor due to the local shear deformation mechanism in walls, denoted as \(\eta\) , which can be easily incorporated into the closed-form analytical expressions proposed in the literature. This allows the lateral displacement to be decomposed into three components: total bending displacement (global + local), total shear displacement (global + local), and displacement due to the interaction between total bending and global shear. It is observed that the local shear deformation mechanism does not affect the displacement due to bending or interaction, affirming the validity of the expressions established in the literature. Numerical simulations highlight the substantial discrepancy that arises when the correction factor \(\eta\) is neglected, resulting in outcomes up to six times lower, leading to structurally unsafe predictions. Parametric analyses indicate that the proposed correction factor can be reliably applied to various configurations, including symmetric and asymmetric coupled shear walls, single-bay and multi-bay walls, with a maximum predicted error margin of − 4.89%, considered acceptable within engineering practice.
