Lateral stiffness of steel plate shear walls

The steel plate shear wall system has been used in a number of buildings as an innovative lateral force resistant system. Openings often exist in the steel plate shear walls due to the various functional requirements of structures. These openings may negatively impact the lateral stiffness of steel plate shear walls. Therefore, an experimental research was instituted to investigate the seismic behavior of steel plate shear walls, with and without openings. The experimental results showed that steel plate shear walls have the satisfying seismic behavior, and, as expected, the strength and stiffness characteristics of the walls were reduced due to openings. Then a single-story wall panel FE model and an analytical deep beam model are developed in order to find the critical factors dominating the thickness reduction coefficient of wall panels with the opening. Furthermore, extensive parametric analysis is conducted to derive a simplified formula for the determination of the thickness reduction coefficient of wall panels with the opening for substituting solid wall panels with reduced thickness for actual wall panels with the opening. Finally, the design method for calculating the lateral stiffness is verified by some experimental programs and recommended for the routine practice of steel plate shear walls.