Analysis of steel plate shear walls using the modified strip model

Abstract

Unstiffened steel plate shear walls are an effective and economical method of resisting lateral forces on structures due to wind and earthquakes. Engineers in the workplace require the ability to assess the inelastic structural response of steel plate shear walls using conventional analysis software that is commonly available and is relatively simple and expeditious to use. The strip model, a widely accepted analytical tool for steel plate shear wall analysis, is refined based on phenomena observed during loading of steel plate shear walls in the laboratory. These observations are modelled first in detail and then simplified to provide an accurate prediction of the overall inelastic behaviour, while being efficient to model. The modifications are tested on several test specimens to validate their use. A parametric study examines the effect of varying the angle of inclination of the tension strips on the predicted inelastic behaviour of the model.