Thin steel plate shear walls behavior and analysis

Steel plate shear walls have been used in buildings in North America and Japan. Until recently, the design practice has been to limit the strength of the wall to the buckling strength of the plate. The post-buckling strength of thin plates subjected to shear has been recognized for more than 60 years, since it was outlined by Wagner in the early 1930s. Tests of a quarter and one third scale specimens of thin steel plate shear walls under cyclic loading were performed; the tests are described and the results are summarized. An analytical model to determine the behavior of thin steel plate shear walls was developed and is given. The model is capable of depicting the behavior of walls with plates welded or bolted to the surrounding beams and columns of the building frame. Comparisons between the analytical and experimental results are made.