Characteristics of the wall-frame interaction in steel plate shear walls

Steel Plate Shear Walls (SPSWs) as the new lateral components, lateral loads are resisted through diagonal tension in the infill wall, rather than in shear. Boundary frames are designed to permit the infill wall to develop significant diagonal tension. A number of SPSWs with various aspect ratios and panel thicknesses are analyzed by the nonlinear static pushover analysis method. Stiffness-drift curves, and shear force-drift curves, and the interaction between the infill walls and frame members are studied. The results show that the SPSWs can be designed according to control storey drift, in order to have a desirable sequences of yielding. In moderate earthquakes, make sure the drift is less than 0.5%, the infill walls experience widespread yielding, while the frame members remain elastic. Under severe earthquakes, however, the structures dissipate noticeable energy and plastic hinges form in frame.