Page 104 - JCAU-7-3

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Seismic performance of reinforced SSPWs

1. Introduction tests on one 4-story and two 1-story building specimens,
all of which lacked stiffeners. Their results indicated a
Lateral load-resisting systems can be classified into ductility factor of 6, derived from experimental data.
moment-resisting frames, braced frames, shear walls, Similarly, Elgaaly & Liu (1997) performed cyclic tests
or core walls (e.g., central core in high-rise structures). on six 3-story, single-span frame structures containing
Steel shear walls are a type of lateral load-resisting system unstiffened steel plates. They concluded that the non-
designed to withstand wind and earthquake loads, linear behavior of these structural systems initiates with
functioning similarly to reinforced concrete shear walls the yielding of the steel plate. Moreover, their findings
and bracings. However, steel shear walls offer superior highlighted that system strength is primarily governed by
performance and numerous advantages over other lateral
load-resisting systems. plastic hinge formation in the columns, suggesting that the
shear wall plate should fully yield before column buckling
Among the key advantages of steel shear walls are their occurs. Takahashi et al. (1973) investigated steel shear
high elastic stiffness, reduced structural weight (due to the panels of varying thicknesses reinforced with stiffeners of
low thickness of steel plates compared to concrete shear different dimensions, spacings, and configurations. Their
walls), and greater architectural space allocation (Bai et al., results confirmed that S-shaped hysteresis curves can be
2022; Ghamari & Johari Naeimi, 2023; Nayel et al., 2022; transformed into spindle-shaped diagrams by strategically
Zhang et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2022). This type of lateral reinforcing the steel plates. Sabouri-Ghomi & Golhaki
load-resisting system consists of discrete panels, each (2008) conducted cyclic loading tests on 3-story steel
comprising a steel plate bolted or welded to the surrounding shear walls with thin plates, using both rigid and hinged
structural components. The steel plates and panels are beam-to-column connections. Their experiment aimed to
divided into multiple parts along the building height based determine the ductility coefficient of the steel shear walls
on the number of floors, forming a continuous vertical by analyzing hysteresis curves, employing low-strength
shear wall, similar to a reinforced concrete shear wall. steel for the wall plate and high-strength steel for the
Lateral forces are transmitted horizontally through floor frame members. Astaneh-Asl (2001) examined two half-
diaphragms to the beams and columns enclosing the shear scale moment-resisting frames with coupled shear walls,
wall. The adjoining steel frame for each panel may feature representing 2- and 3-story sections of a tall building.
either simple or fixed beam-to-column connections, and Their results showed that the first frame exhibited superior
the steel plate itself can be fabricated with or without ductility, with story displacements reaching approximately
stiffeners. The use of steel shear walls is more prevalent in 7% while remaining almost elastic. The compression flange
North America and Japan. Nevertheless, while unstiffened buckled at a drift ratio of 22%, while the tension flange
steel shear walls are commonly implemented in North yielded. In addition, the non-load-resisting I-shaped
American countries, those used in Japan – particularly in column was subjected to localized buckling. This specimen
earthquake-prone regions – are typically reinforced with endured 79 loading cycles, 38 of which were in the plastic
stiffeners (Beyranvand & Hosseini, 2022). One major range. At peak loading, the floor displacement exceeded
drawback of this load-bearing system is that the thin steel 4.4%, and the beam failed at a maximum shear capacity
plate is highly susceptible to buckling, both under its own of approximately 404.834 kN. The frame shear strength
weight and when exposed to seismic loads. To solve this subsequently declined to about 60% of its ultimate capacity.
problem, increasing the steel plate thickness is one option, The second frame exhibited similar ductility, with a story
though it is economically impractical. A more effective and displacement of approximately 7% and 29 loading cycles
cost-efficient solution is the incorporation of stiffeners, (15 in the plastic range). It reached a maximum shear
which significantly enhance the stability and performance capacity of 54.51 kN at a drift of 2.2%. The shear strength
of the system. of the column accounted for 75% of the maximum shear

Due to the simplicity of fabricating stiffeners in a force, while the frame capacity dropped to 80%. Recently,
controlled environment and their ease of installation Labibzadeh and Khayat (2023) investigated stiffeners with
on-site, the implementation speed of the system is high, and different geometries and distributions in steel plate shear
the associated construction costs are significantly reduced. walls, focusing on premature buckling of steel plates under
Therefore, steel shear walls serve as efficient alternatives in lateral loads. Wu et al. (2022) conducted cyclic loading
terms of performance and load-bearing capacity compared tests on diagonally stiffened stainless steel plate shear
to similar systems (Ebadi-Jamkhaneh & Kontoni, 2022). walls, illustrating the seismic performance variations
Numerous studies have been published in the technical between stainless steel shear walls and conventional steel
literature, investigating various aspects of steel shear shear walls. Parvizi et al. (2022) carried out experimental
walls. For example, Lubell et al. (2000) performed cyclic and numerical investigations to assess initial stiffness,

Volume 7 Issue 3 (2025) 2 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.5781