Steel plate shear walls are complex continuous systems and comprehensive numerical models are needed for design, where numerous iterations in the analysis and design due to changes in member sizes would be computationally expensive. Therefore, a reliable preliminary analysis of the system is an important aspect in the design process. One of the key internal force demands in the system is the internal forces in the beams, since they affect not only the design of the beams themselves, but also the beam-to-column connections and the columns. The demands on the beams are predominantly shear and axial forces where simple beam-to-column connections are used. The shear force distribution is statically determinate when the tension fields in the infill plates are assumed to be uniform and at the yield stress for capacity design, while the axial force distribution is highly indeterminate. To evaluate the beam's axial force demand in steel plate shear wall systems with shear connections at the beam-to-column joints, a simple but powerful analysis method is developed based on the principle of capacity design and extensive finite element simulations of wall systems with different numbers of storeys, aspect ratios, lateral load distributions, and infill plate thicknesses. It has been found that the axial force demands are highly dependent on the mechanism of lateral load transfer to the system and the shear force distribution in the columns, and that a method commonly used for axial force evaluation in the beams and connections can be quite inaccurate in some circumstances. A physical test has been carried out on a large-scale two-storey steel plate shear wall with standard bolted double-angle beam-to-column connections, and the method presented is verified against the experimental results.
展开▼
