Mechanical performance of coupled buckling-restrained steel plate shear walls

Abstract

In order to improve the seismic behavior of coupled steel plate shear wall (CSPSW), a new type of coupled buckling-restrained steel plate shear wall structure is proposed. To study the mechanical characteristics of coupled buckling-restrained steel plate shear wall (CBRSPSW), calculating equations for coupling degree of this novel coupled shear wall is derived. The finite element software ABAQUS is used to conduct the parametric studies on the FE models of CBRSPSW and CSPSW. Besides, the ratio of the plastic sectional bending resistances of coupling beam and frame beam γ was selected as the main parameters to control the coupling degree. The mechanical properties of CBRSPSW and CSPSW, like failure mode, shear distribution, column internal force and coupling beam rotation, are analyzed and compared. Besides, the influences of the beam plastic moment ratio γ on the these properties are also studied. Through the numerical research, the coupling degree of CBRSPSW and CSPSW is recommended to be controlled within 0.35–0.45 so that rational mechanical behavior can be obtained.