Analysis of Thin Steel Plate Shear Walls Using the Three-Strip Model

Abstract

Thin steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) are an effective lateral force resisting system and are increasingly being used in structures. Engineers require the ability to predict both elastic and inelastic structural responses of SPSWs accurately by a simplified model that is convenient to use. Based on the strip model, this paper proposes a new simplified model for SPSWs, called the three-strip model, in which the infill plates of SPSWs are replaced by three tension-only strips. Comparisons of experimentally obtained pushover responses of SPSWs and that predicted by the proposed model are given and reasonable agreement is observed. A parametric study examines the effect of aspect ratio and column flexibility on the accuracy of the predicted inelastic behavior from the three-strip model. In addition, the capacity of the proposed model in predicting frame forces is verified based on test and strip model results. It was found that the three-strip model can provide generally accurate results for SPSWs and meanwhile reduce modeling workload and computational expense.