Cyclic tests and performance of weak-axis connected uncoupled and coupled steel plate shear wall with novel infill plate configuration

Abstract

Steel plate shear wall is usually in the form of a tube as the lateral force-resisting component in high-rise buildings. In addition to the connection between the column flange and beam section, the connection between the column web and beam section (i.e. the weak-axis connection) is also required. Therefore, the hysteretic behavior of uncoupled and coupled steel plate shear walls with this connection form was studied. Cyclic loading tests were carried out on two 1/3 scaled four-story specimens consisting of the uncoupled and coupled steel plate shear wall specimens (S4RN and C4RN). The test results show that the weak-axis connected form makes the column avoid premature out-of-plane deformation; the coupled specimen has better performance than the uncoupled specimen with a higher ductility of 4.31, and both specimens tend to a similar angle of 45° in the direction of the tension band; the coupling beam can effectively enhance the bearing capacity, improve the pinch of the hysteresis loop, and its rotation exhibits a similar tendency to that inter-story rotation while hitting the max of 0.07rad. A numerical method to simulate the behavior of S4RN and C4RN, and the submodel solution strategy to investigate the improvement of infill plates, are proposed and implemented using the ABAQUS. The specimens’ shear distribution and partially slotted infill plate configuration were examined after the numerical modeling method was validated against the test results. The numerical results show that approximately 60% of the total lateral force can be shared by the infill plates, and the coupling beams can further reduce the lateral force resisted by the infill plates. The coupling beams can effectively reduce the overturning moment of each wall pier and adjust the axial pressure between the inner and outer column. The partially slotted CSPSW exhibits a plump spindle-shaped hysteretic curve with a great ductility of 5.88, so the measurement for replacing ordinary infill plates with partially slotted infill plates has a good application prospect.