Post-buckling strengths of steel-plate shear walls with two-side clamped boundary conditions

Steel-plate shear wall (SPSWs) have been widely applied to building structures. However, limited information is available on the load-carrying mechanism of two-side clamped SPSWs where the infill steel plate is rigidly connected to only horizontal boundary members. The aim of this study is to propose a theoretical equation for the shear strength of two-side clamped SPSWs, which is calculated by summing the buckling and post-buckling strengths. The proposed equation employs an equivalent principal stress concept and was developed through investigation of the shear strengths obtained from finite element analysis models, which were calibrated using cyclic test results. The equivalent principal stress in an infill thin plate was evaluated using coefficients that are determined by a function with the height-to-thickness ratio and aspect ratio as parameters. The proposed equation was verified throughout finite element analysis results and test results obtained from existing research. The proposed equation predicts the shear strengths of thin plates in two-side clamped SPSWs well.