Evaluation Of The Nonlinear Static Behavior Of Unstiffened Steel Plate Shear Walls With/Without Openings

Although steel plate shear walls have been used to resist lateral loads in recent decades, its complex behavior has brought about difficulties in employing this system. In this study, the lateral behavior of unstiffened steel plate shear walls is investigated via nonlinear static analysis (i.e., pushover analysis). Three different special steel moment frames having 1, 5, and 10 stories are designed based on the codes criteria. Then, the finite element models incorporating both the plastic behavior of steel material and large displacement of the steel plate due to buckling are developed as exact models. In addition, simplified equivalent strip models are created as a more practical code-based approach to modeling for comparison against the exact method. The effects of different parameters including applying gravitational loads, the lateral loads distribution pattern, modeling technique, and rectangular opening in shear wall panel are evaluated. Results of the analyses show that in monotonic loading, results of the strip model are consistent with those of the more rigorous finite element model; of note, results of the former were achieved faster than the latter. Also, it is observed that use of the design method promoted by the design code results in the formation of plastic hinges first on the columns rather than walls. When the wall contains rectangular openings, it is shown that they must be accompanied with perimeter stiffeners on the edges of the opening. Otherwise, a large stress concentration would occur at the corners of the opening. Even with the peripheral stiffeners, the presence of an opening reduces the lateral stiffness and strength of the wall system more or less linearly with regard to variation in the opening size. Eventually, semi-analytical relations are proposed to estimate the lateral stiffness and strength reduction due to the presence of an opening.