Theoretical investigation of the middle panel in steel plate shear walls with two rectangular openings

Abstract

The perforated steel plate shear wall is one of the different lateral load resisting systems. The steel plate shear wall system contains two rectangular openings, the middle panel between two openings has a major role in the energy absorption. In this paper, considering the middle panel similar to the link-beam of EBF and reviewing the existing theoretical formulas for anticipating the middle panel behavior, a new condition related to the stiffness of web plate and stiffeners, which are located on the surrounding opening is added. The results show that the new added condition helps better identify the behavior of the middle panel and to separate the boundaries of behavior type. In addition, a formula with high accuracy is determined to calculate the shape factor of a section with box-shaped flanges. Furthermore, in accordance with obtained diagrams from triple conditions, the effects of six dimension parameters on the behavior of the middle panel are investigated and the bounds of changing the behavior type of the middle panel are determined. The results of the theoretical study show that the 64% increase in width, 47%, and 32% decrease in height and plate thickness of middle panel respectively and 100%, 14%, and 122% increase in height of web, flange width, and thickness of box stiffeners respectively changed the behavior type of middle panel from flexural-dominant to shear-dominant. These obtained results were calculated only in the case of examining the relevant parameters.