NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION ON THE BEHAVIOR OF STIFFENED STEEL PLATE SHEAR WALLS

Two parametric studies were carried out to evaluate and compare the behavior of stiffened SPSWs under quasi-static cyclic loading and monotonic push-over loading. The first was to discuss the effect of different stiffener configurations on the seismic behaviors of the SPSWs and the second was to investigate the strength of the plate and frame for diagonally stiffened SPSW considering parameters such as height to thickness ratio, span to height ratio, yield strength of the in-fill plate, yield strength of the boundary elements, column stiffness, number of floors and stiffeners' inertia. The results showed that diagonally stiffened SPSW enhanced the ultimate shear strength by 15%, increased the total weight by 5%, and improved the effective stiffness, ductility, and energy dissipation coefficient by 29%, 10%, and 21%, respectively. Moreover, to achieve full yielding of the plate and assure that the columns can resist the impact of tension field, the inertia of the columns (Ic) could be equal or more than the minimum inertia required by the code (Imin) and the in-plane radius of gyration of the columns (rx) could be more than 93.3 mm.