Behavior of steel plate shear walls with stiffened full-height rectangular openings

In the present paper, the behavior of steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) with stiffened fullheight rectangular openings is studied. A series of single and multi-story SPSWs of various aspect ratios, with different opening features (i.e. length and horizontal location) and without openings is analyzed using the finite element method to investigate the changes in system behavior due to the introduction of openings in terms of strength, stiffness and ductility. Results show that the opening features can have an important impact on the behavior of SPSWs with the openings. The introduction of stiffened openings always reduces the infill plate strength and also the initial stiffness and ductility, while it somewhat increases the frame strength. It is found that the relative reduction in the infill plate strength as well as the relative reduction in the initial stiffness and ductility due to the introduction of the openings can be reasonably assessed based on the relative reduction in the infill plate area.