Jul 2011

Resilient Tunable Steel Plate Shear Walls

Steel plate shear walls have been used in steel buildings for decades even though they were first included in building codes in 2005.  They provide improved performance relative to concentrically braced frames, and also offer a more economical and easier to construct seismic force resisting system than moment frames in architectural building configurations with relatively narrow wall elements.  However, middle to upper stories of buildings often require the use of very thin web plate material to keep boundary elements economical and discourage concentrated inelasticity in lower floors.  Use of gage thickness web plates creates constructability issues, causes large deflections, and can generate skepticism in architects and owners about the sturdiness of a structure.

Our research group is investigating SPSW systems that are tunable and repairable.  By introducing specific geometry of perforations, it is possible to separately control the characteristics of the system behavior. This type of SPSW will allow practicing engineers to tune the stiffness, strength, web plate thickness, buckling load, and energy dissipation capacity of the lateral force resisting system while producing a structural system that allows targeted repair after an earthquake.  Furthermore, we are also investigating a pattern of geometric cut-outs that virtually eliminates buckling in the SPSW panel and creates a full energy dissipating hysteretic response.

Stay tuned for more information about Resilient Tunable Steel Plate Shear Walls. . .

Abaqus model of a steel plate shear wall test used to validate steel plate shear wall modeling techniques.  These modeling techniques are then used to develop new innovative steel plate shear wall configurations.