Analysis And Design Of Steel Plate Shear Walls Using Orthotropic Membrane Model

Abstract Present paper deals with a type of thin steel plate shear wall (SPW) called “special plate shear wall” (SPSW). Although several methods have been proposed to predict the behavior of SPW, but lack of a comprehensive method containing a complete design procedure, have always confused the designers. Absence of the mentioned method has also restricted usage of steel plate shear wall significantly. Recently a new design technique using “orthotropic membrane model” has been proposed in “AISC Steel Design Guide 20”. In this method, after preliminary design of the system, in order to correctly distribute the forces between the wall members, an orthotropic membrane model is developed using ETABS program. Tension field angle in each web plate is calculated after specifying web plates and boundary elements characteristics. This angle affects the distribution of applied forces to wall members and the web plates shear strength. Finally, the effect of changes in web plate thickness on the behavior of SPSW is assessed.