Steel Plate Shear Wall with Different Infill Steel Plates

Abstract

The steel plate shear wall (SPSW) system is one of the most common and acceptable lateral-resisting structural systems for steel structures. Although the advantages of SPSW over the other structural systems are somehow well-known, the wall-farm interaction of the system is not comprehensively investigated. Therefore, the present study aims at investigating the interaction of the infill steel walls and the moment frames with RBS beams, using finite element method. For this purpose, different finite element model of SPSWs with various span lengths and infill steel plates are developed. The models have the low-yield, medium-yield, and high-strength infill steel plates. At first, eigenvalue buckling analysis is accomplished and those buckling mode shapes were used to introduce the initial imperfection for a realistic simulation. In the study, the important seismic parameters−including the lateral stiffness, the ultimate shear capacity, energy absorption, and ductility−are investigated using nonlinear pushover analysis. Finite element results of the study indicate utilizing the low-yield steel plate affects inversely the contribution to the wall-frame interaction and reduces significantly the shear capacity of SPSWs. However, using high-strength structural steel plate enhances the shear capacity. Moreover, using infill steel plates with different properties does not change the initial elastic stiffness of the shear wall. Additionally, increasing the span length of steel plate shear wall, the ultimate shear strength and energy dissipation increase significantly, but the ductility of the system decreases.