Comparative Study on Steel Plate Shear Walls Used in a High-Rise Building

Tianjin Jinta Tower is the first high-rise building built with steel plate shear walls in China. The main lateral force resisting system is the composite core tube composed of steel plate shear walls and concrete-filled steel tubular columns. To investigate the seismic performance of this structural system and to provide design instructions, two specimens of 2-bay and 5-story steel plate shear walls were tested under low-cycle reverse loading. The unstiffened steel plates of the first specimen were connected to the boundary beam and column frame by high-strength bolts. The steel plates of the second specimen were connected to the boundary frame by welding, and the steel panels were stiffened by channels. Both specimens showed satisfactory energy dissipation mechanisms during the loading process. For the unstiffened specimen with bolted connections, the considerable postbuckling strength generated excellent ductility and energy dissipation performance, but a slip at the bolted connections and the buckling of steel panels decreased the stiffness in the serviceability condition. The stiffened and welded specimen showed higher stiffness in the elastic range and excellent energy dissipation capacity, but the cost of stiffeners would decrease the economy of the steel plate shear walls. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0000613. (C) 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.