Experimental database and analysis of in-plane seismic behaviour of double steel-plate composite walls for wind power tower

Abstract

A double-steel-plate composite wall (DSCW) is composed of two steel plates, infilled concrete, and connectors. Because of their superior mechanical performance, DSCWs have been widely used in engineering, especially in the field of wind power tower. However, only a few studies have been conducted on the in-plane seismic performance of DSCWs. This study focused on the in-plane seismic performance of DSCWs, and a dataset of the in-plane flexural and shear behaviours of DSCWs including over 200 specimens from more than 30 studies was built. First, various structural configurations and mechanical response parameters were adjusted to the same standard. The same parameters studied by different scholars were extracted and analysed to obtain the general rules of the influence of these parameters on the hysteresis performance of DSCWs (forward analysis), such as the distance-to-thickness ratio, axial load ratio, shear span ratio, connector type, steel plate thickness, material strength, and partition number. Second, a backward analysis using the entire database was conducted on the factors influencing different mechanical response parameters, including the failure modes, yield displacement angle, ultimate displacement angle, ductility, and energy dissipation capacity. Finally, the accuracy of the shear capacity equations in the different codes was verified using shear failure specimens from a database to provide suggestions for engineering practice.