Theoretical and experimental investigations of steel plate shear walls with diamond openings

Abstract

Steel plate shear walls (SPSWs), used in many high-rise buildings, have been the focus of considerable research. In existing designs, stress concentrations occur at the two ends of the rectangular belt of a slit shear wall. In contrast, the middle region is virtually unable to enter into the plastic state. Consequently, the strength and ductility of these members are not fully utilized. To resolve this, an SPSW with diamond openings (SPSW-DO) is proposed. In the proposed design the seismic energy is dissipated through the flexure and shear deformations of butterfly links on the wall; hence, the energy dissipation capacity of the SPSW-DO is fully utilized. In this study, the theoretical formulas for predicting the strength and elastic stiffness of the SPSW-DO are derived. Each butterfly link has three potential failure modes depending on the opening parameters: bending, bending–shear, and shear. A design procedure to determine the parameters of the opening is suggested according to the shear requirement for the intermediate section of butterfly links. Based on the experimental results of two specimens with different height-to-width ratios subjected to cyclic loading, the SPSW-DO is found to have reliable seismic performance. Finite element models are also developed to reproduce the experimental behavior, and the structural characteristics of the wall and the potential locations of fractures on the infill plate are predicted. Theoretical formulas for the elastic stiffness and strength of the system are also verified through comparison with the experimental results.