Investigation on the effect of the shape, size and location of openings on the seismic behavior of steel plate shear walls connected to frame beams only

In the conventional steel plate shear walls (SPSWs), the steel plate is connected to all boundary elements, but in the steel plate shear walls connected to frame beams only (SSW-BOs) the plate is not connected to columns. The separation of the plate from the columns decreases the flexural demands of the columns and prevents the premature failure of the columns. In this paper, the effect of opening properties on the seismic behavior of SSW-BOs is studied through nonlinear finite element modeling and analysis. Based on the obtained results, initial stiffness, lateral strength and dissipated energy were higher in the specimen containing square opening compared to the one with circular opening. Moreover, increasing the opening dimension altered the tension field path from a line along the diagonal of the panel to the corners of the opening and degraded the seismic performance of SSW-BO. The most critical opening location is the central one since it disturbs the lateral load path in the panel more than any other locations. Finally, the results of numerical simulations are used to propose a simple method for estimation of the lateral stiffness and strength of SSW-BOs with openings based on the stiffness and strength reduction factors and the corresponding values of the solid SSW-BOs.