THEORETICAL AND NUMERICAL STUDY ON THE STRENGTHENED STEEL PLATE SHEAR WALLS BY FRP LAMINATES

Abstract

In this paper, nonlinear behavior of strengthened steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) by FRP laminates theoretically and numerically has been investigated. In the first part, a new method, “the composite-plate frame Interaction (C-PFI) method”, has been introduced to predict the shear behavior of the composite steel plate shear wall systems (CSPSWs). In the second part, several models of one-story unstiffened and strengthened SPSWs have been simulated in finite element software, and all specimens are subjected to quasi-static cyclic loading. Comparison between results of FEM method and C-PFI method show that theoretical formulations can properly predict nonlinear behavior of CSPSWs. FEM results show that with strengthening infill steel plate on the steel plate shear walls, yield strength, ultimate shear capacity and secant stiffness of SPSWs can be significantly increased. Moreover, in the all strengthened SPSW the amount of cumulative dissipated energy were increased.