EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON CYCLIC BEHAVIOR OF STEEL SHEAR WALLS

In the past three decades, steel shear walls have been used in numerous tall buildings as a resistant system against earthquakes and wind loads. The advantages of using these systems in seismic resistant structures include enhanced stiffness, strength and ductility. In addition, more stable hysteresis characteristics are resulted which leads to considerable capacity for absorption of plastic energy. In the present paper, the elasto-plastic behavior of steel shear walls is presented by performing cyclic tests on six different specimens. The aspect ratio of shear walls and also the thickness of infilled panels are considered as variables and their effects on the cyclic behavior are studied thoroughly. Finally, the experimental results are compared with theoretical analysis and a good agreement is observed.