Effect of aspect ratio and thickness of SPSW on nonlinear response of steel buildings

The steel plate shear wall (SPSW) is considered as one of the effective and economical methods providing a good lateral load resisting system for the structures due to its ductility and high strength. However, several parameters such as the design properties of SPSW and its compatibility with the structure govern its structural performance. In this study, the behavior of different steel buildings employing with steel plates as infill panels was investigated numerically. To this aim, two cases were studied. In the first case, 2-story, 4-story, 6-story, and 8-story steel buildings with and without SPSWs were examined. The plate thickness in this case varied from 1 to 15 mm while the aspect ratio of the plate was kept constant. In the second case, 4-story steel building with SPSWs having different aspect ratios of 0.29 to 2.14 and various plate thicknesses of 1 to 15 mm were evaluated. For both cases, the nonlinear static (pushover) analysis was used to estimate the inelastic strength and deformation capacity. The strip model was adopted for modeling the steel plate. The numerical analysis developed and described in this study with different nonlinear properties for the infill panel and steel buildings were performed by means of the computer program SAP2000. The analysis of the results showed that the SPSWs caused a significant improvement in the performance of the buildings, depending mainly upon aspect ratio and thickness of the plate used as well as the properties of the frame structures.