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Abstract Reinforced concrete (RC) coupled wall systems, compared with RC shear wall without opening, have more complex nonlinear behavior under the extreme earthquake loads due to the existence of coupling beams. The behavior characteristics induced by nonlinear shear deformation such as shear–flexure interaction, pinching effect, strength and stiffness deterioration are clearly observed in numerous cyclic tests of RC coupling beams and shear walls. To develop an analytical model capable of accurately and efficiently assessing the expected seismic performance of RC coupled wall systems, it is critical to define the appropriate key components models (i.e., nonlinear models of RC wall piers/shear walls and coupling beams). Classic fiber beam element based on the theory of Euler–Bernoulli beam is frequently adopted to simulate the nonlinear responses of slender RC wall piers and coupling beams in the literature because it is able to accurately model the response characters from interaction of axial–bending moment at the section level. However, classic fiber beam element cannot capture the nonlinear behaviors of non-slender structures mainly controlled by nonlinear shear deformation. To overcome this shortcoming, a modified force-based fiber element (MFBFE) including shear effect is introduced and used as the analysis element of non-slender RC coupling beams and shear walls. At the section level, a novel shear model for RC coupling beams and an existed shear model for RC shear walls are respectively added to this fiber element to simulate nonlinear responses of these two key components. The analytical model for RC coupled walls hence is formed through integrating the proposed models of these two key components. The validations with different experimental results of cyclic tests including key components and structural system reported in the literature using these proposed models are performed. Good agreements are achieved for all of these proposed models via comparisons between predicted results and experimental data.