DUCTILITY-BASED SEISMIC DESIGN OF STEEL PLATE SHEAR WALLS: PRACTICAL APPLICATION USING STANDARD SECTIONS

Over the past decade of extensive research works, the thin un-stiffened steel plate shear wall (SPSW) has now emerged as a promising lateral load resisting system. Considering the demand of performance-based seismic design (PBSD) philosophy in current and future seismic design codes, a ductility-based design was recently proposed for SPSW systems with pin-connected boundary beams. However, the effectiveness of that method was not tested using standard steel sections. The focus of this paper is to check the applicability of that PBSD procedure for practical designs of SPSW systems in the US and Indian context, using standard rolled steel sections available commercially in these countries. Based on sample design case studies on 4-story test buildings, the method is found to be a practicable solution for PBSD of SPSW systems. In addition, the distribution of inter-story drift over the height of the structure is also found to be suitable for adopting in design guidelines. The need for widening the range of available Indian Standard sections for realistic PBSD applications is recommended based on this study.