EngineeringStructures,Vol. 17, No. 5, pp.

344-351, 1995
E~UTTERWORTH
I~rlE I N E M A N N Copyright 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd
Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
0141-0296(95)00017-8 01414)296/95 $10.00 + 0.00

Seismic resistance of steel plate

shear walls
T. M. Roberts
School of Engineering, University of Wales, Cardiff, P.O. Box 917, Newport Road, Cardiff,
CF2 1XH, UK

In recent years, steel plate shear walls have been used in a number
of tall buildings, mainly in Japan and North America, to resist lat-
eral forces induced by wind and earthquakes. The perceived advan-
tages of such shear walls, in seismic resistant structures, are
enhanced stiffness, strength and ductility, stable hysteretic charac-
teristics and a large capacity for plastic energy absorption. They are
also much lighter than equivalent reinforced concrete shear walls,
which reduces the dynamic forces and loads on the foundations.
Recent experimental and theoretical research into the structural
performance of steel plate shear walls is discussed. Particular
emphasis is given to the development of theoretical models for
representing the hysteretic characteristics, which can be incorpor-
ated in nonlinear dynamic analyses of steel plate shear walls sub-
jected to prescribed dynamic loading or ground motion.

Keywords:steel plate shear walls, hysteretic characteristics, nonlin-

ear dynamic analysis

The structural elements commonly used in tall buildings to \

resist lateral forces induced by wind and earthquakes are
moment resisting frames, braced frames and shear walls.
Moment resisting frames soon become uneconomical as the
height of buildings is increased, and recourse has to be
made to braced frames and shear walls.
Shear walls systems, the majority of which have been
constructed of heavily reinforced concrete, usually consist
of a series of plane walls, often surrounding a central ser-
vice area. In recent years, steel plate shear walls have been
used in a number of tall buildings, mainly in Japan and
North America t-9. Such shear walls consist of thin steel
plates, generally stiffened to prevent shear buckling, framed
by columns and beams, as shown in Figure 1. The per-
ceived advantages of steel plate shear walls are enhanced
stiffness, strength and ductility, stable hysteretic character-
istics and a large capacity for plastic energy absorption.
They are also much lighter than the equivalent reinforced
concrete shear walls, which reduces the dynamic forces and
loads on the foundations. However, they generally require
some form of fire protection and may be susceptible to
vibration, particularly when used as a shear core surround-
ing an elevator system.
The first building to incorporate steel plate shear walls
appears to have been the Shin Nittetsu Building, con-
structed in Tokyo for the Nippon Steel Company and com-
pleted in 19709. A typical floor plan of this 20-storey office
tower, which incorporated five continuous H-shaped shear
walls, is shown in Figure 2. Thicknesses of the
2.75 m 3.7 m orthogonally stiffened steel plates, varied
Beam
~Column ~.7_ Pla~e
--Plate
Welded or bolted
connect ion
~Opening (bl
"77-
(al
Figure 1 Steel plate shear wall. (a) elevation; (b) connection
of plate to frame members
from 4.5 mm in the longitudinal walls in the upper storeys,
to 12 mm in the lower transverse walls. To provide the
required fire resistance, the plates were encased in dry wall
material up to 50 mm thick.
Japan's second building incorporating steel plate shear
walls was the 53-storey Shinjuku Nomura Office Tower 1,
on which work commenced in 1975. A typical floor plan
is shown in Figure 3. Stiffened steel plates, 3 m x 5 m and
varying in thickness from 6 to 12 nun, were bolted to the
frame members to form eight T-section shear walls. How-
ever, the contractor and designer agreed that welded con-
nections would have been a better alternative. Sprayed fire

344
Seismic resistance of steel plate shear walls: T. M. Roberts
I Z
7 400
Steel plate
shear wall
Steel
coJumrt o Steel plate
H
o
o shear walls
I Z
33 000
Figure2 Floor plan of Shin Nittetsu Building
Steel plate
shear wall
t--t
Steel box
column
33 500 , first series of tests, two full-scale models of a one-bay two-
Figure3 Floor plan of Shinjuku Nomura Office Tower
protection up to 50 mm thick, was applied to the steel plat-
es.
The use of steel plate shear walls in the United States
commenced in about 1976. The six-storey Olive View Hos-
pital in California3'5, had reinforced concrete shear walls in
the lower two storeys and stiffened steel plate shear walls,
with plate thicknesses between 16 and 19 mm, in the upper
four storeys. The reason for incorporating steel plate shear
walls was to reduce the mass of the structure and hence
the associated seismic forces.
The 16-storey Moffit Hospital in California9, contained
five steel plate shear walls, as shown in Figure 4, with plate
thicknesses varying between 10 and 32 mm. A reinforced
concrete shear wall was placed around the elevator core,
where a steel wall may have resulted in vibration problems.
To provide additional rigidity and fire resistance, the steel
panels were covered on both sides with 250 mm of
reinforced concrete, cormected to the steel plates by steel
reinforcing ties.
The 30-storey Hyatt Regency Hotel, completed in 1978
in Dallas, Texas4,6, contained braced steel frames in the
long direction and stiffened steel plate shear walls, having
plate thicknesses from 13 to 39 mm, in the short direction.
Steel plate shear walls have also been used to upgrade
345
33 500 I
I
Reinforced concrete
t.~cor e,
I 25 000 I
Figure4 Shear walls in Moffit Hospital
existing structures7,9. In a seven-storey hospital in Califor-
nia, a combination of steel bracing, steel plate and
reinforced concrete shear walls, were used to increase the
resistance of the structure to lateral forces by a factor of
approximately five. The use of steel plate shear walls
resulted in a significant weight reduction, which avoided
overloading the existing spread footings.
In the early 1970s, the research division of a large
Japanese contracting firm, investigated the behaviour of
stiffened steel plate shear panels subjected to alternating
shearing forces8. Twelve panels, 2100 mm wide by 900 mm
deep, having various plate thicknesses and stiffener sizes
and arrangements, were tested. Based on the results of the
storey section of a 32-storey shear wall, were designed and
tested. One of the specimens had openings in the panels
while the other did not. The results of the two full-scale
tests were compared with an elastoplastic, plane stress,
finite element analysis. It was concluded that the stiffeners
could be designed to prevent shear buckling on the basis
of the first series of tests, and that the strength and stiffness
could be determined using simple shear theory.
Kulak and co-workers9-13, carried out a large-scale
experimental and theoretical investigation of the static and
cyclic loading behaviour of unstiffened, thin steel plate
shear panels. Details of the test specimens, which rep-
resented two single storeys of a one-bay shear wall, are
shown in Figure 5. The first test specimen was subjected
to three cycles of load, with a maximum storey sway of
1:400, followed by a final load application to failure. The
second test specimen was subjected to 28 cycles of load,
with gradually increasing storey sway, to simulate the
response to earthquake loading. Theoretical models for pre-
dicting the static and cyclic loading behaviour, based on
idealizing the web plates as a series of inclined tensile
strips, were developed and showed satisfactory correlation
with the test results. The investigation highlighted the ben-
eficial postbuckling reserve of stiffness and strength and
stable hysteretic characteristics of unstiffened steel plate
shear panels.
Recently, Roberts and Sabouri-Ghonli 14-]7, conducted a
346 Seismic resistance of steel plate shear walls: 7-. M. Roberts

I
5 000 I J von Mises yield function
Pinned M bending moment in shear wall
connection
plastic moment of frame member (beam or
column)
P diagonal force
Pe ultimate experimental diagonal force
3750 ultimate experimental diagonal force of unperfor-
eeo
ated panel
P, theoretical ultimate diagonal force
& slope of experimental skeleton curve
&o slope of experimental skeleton curve for an unper-
forated panel
Fixed ratio of plastic strains in direction of tension fields
connection
1 / 0 inclination of tension field
inclination of panel diagonal
Poisson's ratio
I 12 750 ~o uniaxial yield stress
O'to tension field stress corresponding to yield
O'xx stress in x-direction
(bl O'yy stress in y-direction
4 4OO
I To yield shear stress
critical shear stress
Figure 5 Details of shear panels tested by Kulak etal. (a) static T~ shear stress
test; (b) cyclic test
series of cyclic loading tests on small-scale, unstiffened, Hysteretic characteristics of unstiffened plate
steel plate shear panels, with and without perforations. shear panels
Theoretical models, similar to those of Kulak et al. but Roberts and Sabouri-Ghomi 14.15 conducted a series of cyc-
including the influence of shear buckling, were developed lic loading tests on small-scale, unstiffened, steel plate
for predicting the hysteretic characteristics. These models shear panels, with and without central circular perforations.
showed reasonable correlation with the test results. The Details of the test specimens are presented in Figure 6 and
theoretical models for cyclic loading were also incorporated Table 1. The edges of the panels were clamped between
in nonlinear dynamic analyses of steel plate shear walls in pairs of rigid, pin-jointed frame members by means of two
order to predict their response to blast and earthquake load- rows of high tensile bolts. Two diagonally opposite pinned
ing. Details of both the experimental and theoretical investi-
gation are presented in the following sections. 70 b 70 40

Notation
70 o l%%
wo%wow:)o
Bolts
b width of shear panel
d depth of shear panel
h
k
thickness of shear panel
shear stiffness of shear wall (units of force)
Io
kcr shear buckling coefficient
m mass per unit length . . . . . . . . )C)
"5- lal ~
p(x,t) distributed dynamic force
q diagonal displacement of shear panel
S length of frame member (cross-beam or column)
t
w
wb
w~
Ww
time
total displacement of shear wall
bending displacement of shear wall
shear displacement of shear wall
shear displacement of shear panel
~ Hydraulic
grips

Wwcr critical shear displacement of shear panel

Wwe limiting elastic shear displacement of shear panel (bl H- - Ii ' ~ inge
Wwp plastic shear displacement of shear panel
x, y co-ordinate axes
D diameter of hole in shear panel E Steel pin
E Young's modulus
E1 bending stiffness of shear wall
F shear force in shear wall
Fw shear force in shear panel
Fwcr critical shear force of shear panel
Fwu ultimate shear force of shear panel Figure6 Details of specimens tested by Roberts and
G shear modulus Sabouri-Ghomi. (a) panel dimensions; (b) hinge details
Seismic resistance o f steel plate shear walls: 7". M. Roberts 347

Table 1 Details of test specimens and experimental and theoretical ultimate loads

b d h D E (~o Pe P.
Panel (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (kN/mm 2) (N/mm 2) (kN) (kN)

SW2 300 300 0.83 0 202 219 50.5 49.7

SW5 " " " 60 . . . . 48.5 41.6
SW8 . . . . . 105 " " 40.0 35.6
SW11 . . . . 150 " " 32.0 29.6
SW3 300 300 1.23 0 203 152 51.0 54.4
SW6 . . . . 60 " " 46.0 45.6
SW9 . . . . 105 " " 37.5 38.9
SW12 . . . . 150 " " 33.0 32.4

SW14 450 300 0.83 0 202 219 62.5 58.8

S W 17 . . . . . 60 " " 58.0 49.3
SW20 . . . . . 105 " " 50.0 42.1
SW23 . . . . . 150 " " 44.0 35.0

SW15 450 300 1.23 0 203 152 59.0 63.7

SW18 . . . . 60 " " 56.0 53.4
SW21 " " " 105 " " 53.0 45.6
SW24 . . . . 150 " " 46.0 37.9

comers were connected to the hydraulic grips of the testing P,q/d 80~
machine, using accurately machined hinges to minimize
slack during the load reversals. PIkN) "
The panels were tested by applying equal and opposite /
forces along one panel diagonal, using a Schenk 250 kN, [ I I I
servohydraulic, dynamic testing machine. An x-y plotter - 2 . e ~ ~'~----//q (ram) 2-8
connected to the testing machine enabled the diagonal force
P and the corresponding displacement q to be plotted auto-
matically during the tests. SW2

For each test, tensile forces were applied along one panel -80
diagonal, until the corresponding displacement reached a
prescribed value, generaily 1.6 mm, which was well into
the elastoplastic range of the panels. The panel was then
80"
unloaded and compressive forces were applied along the
panel diagonal until the displacement in the opposite direc-
tion reached a prescribed value, generally 1.6 mm. This
process was repeated to obtain at least four complete cycles
of load, with the diagonal displacement being increased by
-2 , ~
I I 1 I
// 2.8

a prescribed amount, generally 0.4 mm, in each direction

during successive cycles.
Before discussing the test results, it is appropriate to
define three terms, namely, the skeleton curve, hysteresis
loop and energy dissipation. The skeleton curve is the load-
displacement curve that would be obtained by increasing
the load monotonically from zero in each direction.
Because of irreversible plastic straining, the load-
displacement curve departs from the skeleton curve, and
the curve associated with cyclic loading between two
extremes is called a hy:~teresis loop. The area contained
within the hysteresis loop is the energy dissipated by the
structure during the loading cycle.
Typical hysteresis loops, for panels SW2 and SW15, are
shown in Figure 7. All the panels exhibited stable S-shaped
hysteresis loops, with the amount of energy absorbed per
cycle increasing with the maximum amplitude of the dis-
placement. All panels sustained at least four complete load
cycles, involving large plastic strain reversals, without any
apparent reduction in load-carrying capacity. Supplemen-
tary tests on steel panels similar to SW2, with 12 complete
load cycles during which the diagonal displacement was
gradually increased to a maximum of 2.8 mm, confirmed
that the panels possessed adequate ductility.
sw15
Figure 7 Typical hysteresis loops for test panels SW2 and
SW 15
The ultimate strength and stiffness of the test panels
(determined from bilinear approximations of the exper-
imental skeleton curves) decreased with increasing size of
opening, as shown in Figure 8. Pe/Peo is the ratio of the
strength of a perforated panel to that of a similar unperfor-
ated panel. Se/Seo is the ratio of the slope of the skeleton
curve for a perforated panel to that of a similar unperforated
panel. The strength and stiffness of perforated panels can
therefore be approximated conservatively, by applying a
reduction factor (1-D/d) to the strength and stiffness of
a similar, unperforated panel. For noncircular openings, D
should be taken as the maximum dimension of the opening
in any direction.
Since the test panels were relatively slender, they
buckled in shear at loads significantly less than the
maximum test loads. Large elongated plastic buckles for-
med and reformed, approximately in line with the tension
diagonals, during the cyclic loading.
348 Seismic resistance of steel plate shear walls: 7". M. Roberts

The ratio/3 (assumed positive) can be determined from the

R
P"'J
i- -, " ~
8
.
* I ,'~ Ivo I d
flow theory of plasticity and an assumed state of stress in
the plate (see below).
D1.F1 is parallel to 0.A1. The loop now continues from
C1 to E1 to F1. At E1 the plate buckles, and from E1 to
I i l , i I , l , , ~,I
F1 an inclined tension field develops in the plate. From F1
0 0.5 1
(1-D/d) to G1 the plate strains plastically in the opposite direction,
after which it unloads from G1 to HI, parallel to 0.A1. The
plastic elongation in the direction of the tension field is
proportional to F1.G1. The corresponding plastic contrac-
s "L., tion in the direction of the initial tension field is pro-
~ .... |
portional to CI.I1, and hence
Se I" "" " " " - .
CI.I1 = / 3 F I . G I (2)
r
0
. . . . ,
0.5
, , "':--, 1 0.II = 0.C1 -/3FI.G1 (3)
(1- D/d)
Figure 8 Variation of strength and stiffness of test panels with II.A2 is parallel to 0.A1. At J1 the plate buckles and from
size of opening J1 to A2 an inclined tension field develops in the plate.
The second and subsequent hysteresis loops are formed
in a similar manner to the first, with points D2 and 12 etc.
Theoretical models for predicting the hysteretic charac- defined by the following equations
teristics of steel plate shear panels have been presented by
Tromposch and Kulak 1~ and Roberts and Sabouri-Ghomi TM.
Herein, a theoretical model similar to that of Roberts and
0.D2 = 0.H1 - / 3 A2.B2 (4)
Sabouri-Ghomi is presented, which includes the influence
0.12 = 0.C2 - / 3 F2.G2 (5)
of shear buckling and tension yielding of the web plate.
0.D3 = 0.H2 - / 3 A3.B3 (6)
An approximate elastoplastic model for the hysteresis
0.13 = 0.C3 - / 3 F3.G3 (7)
loops of a slender web plate surrounded by a rigid pin
The various parameters required to define the hysteresis
jointed frame and subjected to predominantly shear loading,
loops, can be determined as follows. The critical shear
is illustrated in Figure 9. Fwcr and F~, are the critical
stress %r (see Figure lO(a)) is given by
(buckling) and ultimate shear force of the web plate, and
w~e and wwp are the limiting elastic and plastic shear dis- k~,rZE h2 /
placements. % r - 12(1 - v2)d2 <- %= ~rIV3 (8)
From 0 to A1 the response is assumed elastic and linear,
even though the plate may buckle at a shear force less than
F~,. After buckling, an inclined tension field gradually in which kcr is a buckling coefficient which depends upon
develops in the plate. The tension field becomes fully the panel aspect ratio b/d and boundary conditions 18,19
developed and yields when the shear force is equal to Fw,. (approximately 14.6 and 11.4 for plates with clamped edges
From A 1 and B 1 the plate strains plastically, and from B 1 and aspect ratios bid equal to 1 and 1.5, respectively). The
to CI the plate unloads elastically, parallel to 0.A1. upper limit for %r is the yield shear stress ro = troll/3. The
The length 0.C1 is proportional to the plastic elongation critical shear force of the web plate Fwc, is therefore
in the direction of the tension field. The length 0.D1 is
proportional to the corresponding plastic contraction in the Fwc, = % , b h (9)
direction of the tension field which develops when the
direction of loading is reversed, and is defined by It is assumed that during the postbuckled stage, a tension
field inclined at an angle 0 to the horizontal, as shown in
O.D1 =/30.C1 (1) Figure lO(b), gradually develops throughout the entire web

Fw,%

Wwe , Wwp _
'~cr

A1 = A2 B1 B2
Fwu -- x;r
/ / ,"- . . . . 7 ,/ . . . . . . . / 7
// // / (a) (b) (el Y
/ ,'
/ ~./J1
I/
_J__/J2 /I
I
Fwcr _-- .~
......... ~ n2
~ t-w,Ww

II
# / //EZ '-- ~/~ - Fw~ r

/ ;
L/ . /___!/. i - F.,, (dl
Figure 10 Assumed stresses in web plate. (a) critical shear
Figure9 Theoretical hysteresis loops for thin steel plate stress; (b) tension field; (c) combined state of stress; (d)
shear panels loading along panel diagonals
Seismic resistance of steel plate shear walls: T. M. Roberts
plate. This assumed stress distribution provides a lower
bound for the strength of the web plate, provided that the
surrounding frame members are strong enough to sustain
the normal boundary forces associated with the tension
field. If tr,o denotes the value of the tension field stress at
which yielding occurs, the total state of stress in the plate
at yield, shown in Figure lO(c), is defined by
tr~x = trtosin2 0
tryy = O'toCOS20
xy = "l'cr+ O',oSin0cOS0
The boundary shear stress r~y is a maximum when 0 = 45 ,
and hence
ff.x = ~xy = ',o/2
~xy= ~cr "1-~,o/2
According to von Mises yield criterion, yielding of the plate
occurs when
J(o')=(o'=-Oryy)Z +o'~2 +O'xxZ + 6 r . r 2 = 2 o ' o 2
Hence, substituting from equations (13) and (14), the value
of tr,o at which yielding occurs, is defined by the equation
tr,oz = 3 TcrO'to "~"3% 2 --tro 2
The ultimate shear force of the web plate is now given by
F~. = r ~ h = (%~ + ~.o12)b h
and the critical shear displacement Wwcr is given by
Wwcr = ~ r / G
in which G is the shear modulus of the plate. The limiting
elastic shear displacement w~,, can be determined approxi-
mately by equating the work done by the postbuckled
component of the shear force, to the strain energy of the
tension field, increased by a factor of 1.5 to allow for the
bending strain energy of the plate associated with shear
buckling. Hence
bh 1.5 @tob d h
('rxY - "rcr) T (Wwe -- }vcr) -- 2E
Substituting from equations (14) and (18) gives
%d 3 tr,od
.,w, = --6- + - - - E -
The ratio of the plastic strains in the direction of the
tension fields /3, can be determined from the flow theory
of plasticity. When 0 = 45 ,/3 is given by '4
- 3 rcr- O',o
/3=3%r+20",o
The values of/3 given by ,equation (21) are negative. How-
ever, positive values of/3 should be used in equations (2)-
(7). When %r= % and O~o= 0, /3 = - 1 , and when 7"cr= O,
/3 = - 1 / 2 .
To ensure that the frame members can sustain the normal
349
boundary stresses o%12 associated with the tension field
(see equation (13)), the following condition, based on
assumed simple supports, should be satisfied
~toh S 2
M ~ - - (22)
16
in which M~ and s(b or d) are the plastic moment and
(10) length of the appropriate frame member (column or
( 11 ) extreme cross-beam not restrained by adjacent web panel).
(12) If this condition is not satisfied, the value of tr,o defined by
equation (16), should be reduced accordingly.
For steel plate shear walls with simple beam to column
connections, it is reasonable to neglect the shear resistance
of the frame members. However, if the beam to column
(13) connections are fixed, the shear resistance of the frame may
(14) be significant, and the hysteretic characteristics of the frame
can be superimposed on the hysteretic characteristics of the
web plates ~4.
Theoretical ultimate loads of the test panels P,, determ-
ined in accordance with equation (17), and reduced by a
(15) factor {1-D/(d+70)} to allow for the central circular perfor-
ations, are compared with the experimental ultimate loads,
P~, in Table I. In calculating P, and the reduction factor
{1-D/(d+70)}, the effective dimensions of the panels were
increased by 70 mm in order to coincide with the centres
(16) of the four comer pins in the surrounding frame (see Figure
6). The diagonal force P and corresponding displacement
q are related to the panel shear force Fw and corresponding
displacement w~ by the equations (see Figure lO(d))
(17)
Fw= P cosOa (23)
q = Ww cosOa (24)
(18) in which Oa is the inclination of the panel diagonal from
the horizontal. In general, the theoretical values of P, are
slightly conservative.
Theoretical hysteresis loops for test panel SW2 are com-
pared with the experimental hysteresis loops in Figure 11.
In general, there is a reasonable correlation between the
theoretical and experimental results, but the theoretical
model tends to underestimate the energy absorbed during
loading cycles (area contained within the hysteresis loop)
with increasing numbers of cycles.
(19)
D y n a m i c analysis of steel plate shear walls
The steel plate shear wall shown in Figure 1, can be ideal-
ized as a vertical cantilever plate girder, for which the col-
umns and cross-beams of the shear walls act as the flanges
(20) and transverse stiffeners. In general, it is necessary to con-
sider both the shear and overall bending deformations of
the shear wall in a realistic dynamic analysis 16a7.
The vertical cantilever shown in Figure 12, has mass per
unit length m, and is subjected to a distributed dynamic
force p(x,t). The motion of an element of the cantilever,
(21) length 6x, in the z-direction, is described by the equation
OF bZw
p(x,t) + ~x = m ~ta (25)
in which F is the shear force, w is the total displacement
(shear plus bending) and t denotes time. The total displace-
ment w can be expressed as
350 Seismic resistance o f steel plate shear walls: 7. M. Roberts
Experiment 60 /
/
5O ,//
Theory P (kN)
Z/ /7"/"/ Resonance/// Hysteretic damping
C~m~
, , , ,_..-,
, . ~ / q(mm) 2
g/" /

/(~.3 6. 9. 12 1.5
"t (secs)
Cycle I i
-60

60

, , /_~ -5C
Figure 13 Resonance and hysteretic damping of a five-storey
steel plate shear wall subjected to periodic ground motion
4/~ Z/
Cycle 2
in which E1 is the overall bending stiffness of the shear
60
wall. Hence, substituting equations (28) and (29) into equ-
ation (27) gives
///7 a2W s a4W b
k~ = EI a~- (30)
.... ~.Y~ - 2
Substituting F from equation (28) into equation (25) gives
Cycle 3
a2w2 a2(wS+ w~)
Figure 11 Comparison of experimental and theoretical hys- p ( x,t ) + k - ~ =m at 2 (31)
teresis loops for test panel SW2

Alternatively, substituting equation (30) into equation

xI (31 ) gives
f.~ M+6M ~4w~ a2(w" + wb
p(x,t) ~ F+SF p(x,t) - E1 - - ~ = m at 2 (32)
6x~ ~ ' ] 6x
p(x,t} [ ~
~F Equations (31) and (32) are the coupled differential equa-
tions of motion for the system. When k and E1 are constant,
the equations are linear. However, if k is a function of the
shear displacement, as discussed in the previous section,
equation (31) becomes nonlinear.
W
Equations (31) and (32) can be solved in discretized
Figure 12 Shear wall idealized as a vertical cantilever with form (two equations for each storey of the shear wall) using
distributed dynamic loading
a finite difference time stepping scheme 17. Typical results
w = ws + wb (26) for the dynamic response of the top storey of a five-storey
steel plate shear wall, subjected to periodic ground motion
where superscripts s and b denote shear and bending, having a frequency approximately equal to the lowest natu-
respectively. Considering the moment equilibrium of the ral frequency of vibration of the shear wall, are shown in
Figure 13. As can be seen, the periodic ground motion
element and neglecting rotational inertia gives
induced resonance of the shear wall, which is characterized
by a linear increase in the amplitude of vibration during
aM
F - ax (27) the first three or four cycles. The onset of plastic shear
deformation inhibited the resonance and resulted in a
reduction in the amplitude of vibration. The reasons for this
It is assumed that the shear f o r c e F i s proportional to the are as follows. Firstly, energy is dissipated by the structure
gradient of the shear displacement, i.e. during the plastic hysteretic cycles, which acts as a form
of damping. Secondly, a reduction in stiffness of the struc-
F = k aws ture due to plastic straining decreases the natural frequency
ax (28)
of vibration, which does not remain exactly in phase with
the ground motion and therefore inhibits resonance.
where k is the shear stiffness (units of force). The moment
M is related to the bending displacement wb, by the equ-
ation Conclusions

In recent years, steel plate shear walls have been used in

E1 a2wb (29) a number of tall buildings throughout the world, to resist
M= ax 2 lateral forces induced by wind and earthquakes. The per-
Seismic resistance of steel plate shear walls: 7". M. Roberts
ceived advantages of such shear walls are enhanced stiff-
ness, strength and ductility, stable hysteretic characteristics,
and a large capacity for plastic energy absorption. They
are also much lighter than conventional reinforced concrete
shear walls, which reduces the dynamic forces and loads
on foundations. Consequently, they have been used to
strengthen a number of existing buildings.
Large- and small-scale experimental studies have been
conducted on stiffened and unstiffened steel plate shear
panels, to investigate their strength and hysteretic character-
istics. Theoretical models have also been developed for rep-
resenting the hysteretic characteristics, which can be incor-
porated in nonlinear dynamic analyses of steel plate shear
walls, to investigate their response to prescribed dynamic
loading or ground motion.
References
1 'Patent problems challenge spawn steel seismic walls', Engineering
News Record, 26 January 1978, p 17
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