Steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) have been frequently used in seismic design and retrofit of buildings over the past three decades or so. Employment of infill plates made of low yield point (LYP) steel with considerably low yield stress and high elongation capacity is believed to provide the possibility in order to improve the structural and seismic characteristics of such lateral force-resisting systems. Among the various benefits is the early yielding of LYP steel infill plates, which can result in greater energy absorption capacity and limitation of the plastic deformation demand to the surrounding frame structure. On this basis, a case study is performed using numerical simulations and reported in this paper on the seismic retrofit of SPSWs using LYP steel infill plates of double thickness. It is shown that the retrofit of a steel shear wall using a LYP steel infill plate of double thickness can result in desirable plate-frame yielding sequence and interaction. Moreover, this retrofit strategy can improve the initial stiffness, buckling stability, and energy dissipation capacity of the existing SPSW system.

Steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) find frequent use in the United States, Japan, and Canada, resulting in a considerable amount of theoretical and experimental research activity on these systems. Attention has been focused to the structural behaviour of SPSWs with concerted efforts on analytical models as lateral force-resisting systems in the design of low-, medium-, and high-rise buildings against seismic and wind loads. The advantages of using SPSWs in such a manner in buildings include stable hysteretic characteristics, high plastic energy absorption capacity, and enhanced stiffness, strength, and ductility.

SPSWs have been used with two different design philosophies as well as detailing strategies. One approach employs heavily-stiffened SPSWs to ensure that the wall panel achieves its full plastic strength prior to failing as a result of out-of-plane buckling. Thus, the stiffened wall panels have been found to resist large lateral forces and are capable of dissipating harmful earthquake-induced energy effects. Such systems are currently used in practice in Japan, where high-fabrication costs are tolerated in exchange for heightened seismic and structural performances of their buildings.

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ISSN: 2472-0437

Current Issue: Volume 5: Issue 1

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