Effect of geometrical variations on the failure mechanisms of perforated steel plate shear Walls—a parametric study towards a new design

Abstract

As an effective lateral resisting system, a steel plate shear wall (SPSW) should provide adequate ductility and dissipate energy while protecting its boundary elements (BEs). Herein, the failure modes of a recently-introduced design for SPSWs (a perforated panel with a web-reduced beam section) was investigated. The aim was to control the failure mechanism of this arrangement by various geometrical modifications. To obtain a high-performing design, the interaction of the structural components was studied in terms of plastic strain distribution, ductility, strength, and stiffness. To this end, a finite element prototype was populated for a range of geometrical parameters. The analyses were carried out by varying the panel and beam perforation sizes; then, one excelling combination was further challenged by altering its panel thickness and the frame aspect ratio. The model successfully distinguished between three common failure modes and provided an interesting insight into the causality of the failure mechanisms. It was found that the size of the perforations in the panel and the beam, and the size of the horizontal boundary elements could be manipulated to obtain the desired mechanism. Therein, the tensile failure of the panel was dominant where a plastic band formed across the panel and protected the vertical BEs and their connections. Moreover, the model outperformed its imperforate counterpart in terms of hysteresis ductility and absorbed energy (by about 250%) due to the increased engagement of the structural members. Finally, the findings were summarised into some practical recommendations for improving the design of the proposed arrangement.