Numerical investigation of thin steel plate shear wall behaviour equipped with energy absorption connection plate

Although steel plate shear walls have the inherent advantages of formability and increasing the energy absorption of the lateral load system, there are some shortcomings such as buckling in the early stages of loading and high demand for shear force of the column. In order to address these cases, a new moment connection using steel trapezoidal plate in the form of numerical models of steel shear wall system under monotonic loading and cycles is presented. The main aim of this study is to provide a system of low-thickness steel shear wall that has the same capacity and energy absorption in accordance with the direct connection sample, while at the same time concentrate the plastic joint area on the connection plate. The connection plate acts like a fuse. In spite of conventional steel shear wall systems, the connection of the steel wall plate to the column has not been established and vertical lateral stiffeners have been used to improve its performance. Also, three different thicknesses used for the connection plate. The finite element numerical model was validated with eight test specimens and a good accuracy was established in terms of load-bearing capacity, elastic stiffness, and failure mode. The results of nonlinear static analyses on the developed models showed that the use of the connection plate was able to act as an energy-absorbing member and prevent the boundary elements from entering the plastic status. Therefore, the use of lower cross-section of column elements is possible. There is also no need to follow a weak beam- strong column rule and to use continuous or doubler plates in the panel zone of the column. Finally, it was found that the relationships presented in the AISC regulations are less than 7% to 25% for estimating the angle of the tensile field and the shear capacity.