Nonlinear Dynamic Behavior of Semi-Supported Steel Shear Walls.

Despite the many advantages of steel shear walls, such as high strength and stiffness, good ductility and high energy dissipation, the increase in the size of columns next to the steel shear walls is a drawback that affects the use of this system. In order to achieve an economic design while keeping design essentials and optimal performance, a novel steel shear wall system called "semi-supported steel shear wall (SSSW)" was proposed, in which the wall plate is attached to the secondary columns instead of the primary columns of the frame. The secondary columns are only responsible for creating the tension field in the plate and the lateral load rather than partnership in the toleration of gravity loads. In this paper, due to the lack of knowledge on the dynamic behavior of steel plate shear walls in general and SSSW in particular, the nonlinear dynamic behavior of SSSWs is investigated. The explicit finite element method is used for analysis and the results are verified by the laboratory test results. The results of the nonlinear dynamic analysis show that semi-supported shear walls have a very good dynamic performance in increasing stiffness and reducing the lateral displacement of the structure. The effects of various parameters of SSSW on its dynamic behavior are also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]