Non-linear analysis of simultaneous effect of diagonal and horizontal-vertical stiffeners on behavior of steel plate shear wall

The steel plate shear wall (SPSW) as a lateral bearing system in high-rise buildings has been focused in recent decades. Today, these lateral bearing members with high ductility, high energy absorption, and high initial stiffness are used in new buildings as well as rehabilitation of existing buildings, especially in earthquake-prone countries. The use of stiffeners in the SPSW reduces the thickness of the infill plate, and increases the strength and stiffness of the SPSW. The aim of this study is to present a new arrangement for stiffeners with high performance in order to achieve higher shear strength and lateral stiffness. For this purpose, after validating the numerical modeling, several SPSWs with common (horizontal-vertical and diagonal arrangement) and proposed arrangement (diagonally along with horizontal-vertical) of stiffeners were modeled in Abaqus finite element software and were subjected under monotonic and cyclic loads. The results showed that the suggested arrangement provided more confinement for the infill plate and enhanced the final shear strength of the SPSW by 47.5%.