Development of a buckling-restrained shear panel damper with demountable steel-concrete composite restrainers

A buckling-restrained shear panel damper with demountable steel-concrete composite restrainers is developed. The weld-free shear plate and the slotted holes can postpone the occurrence of the fracture at the shear plate providing with much larger deformation capacity. The composite design of the restrainer simplifies the fabrication work and results in a light and strong restrainer which remains undamaged. A series of tests including twelve specimens were carried out to examine the effects of the key design aspects on the seismic behavior of the proposed damper, such as, the aspect ratio of the panel strip, the size of vertical slotted holes, the ways of cutting the panel, the number of inner composite panels and the type of steel materials (conventional and low-yield point steel). The damper made of conventional steel can reach a drift ratio of more than 6% and provides with very stable energy dissipation capacity. The proposed composite restraining plates effectively limit the local and global out-of-plane deformation of the inner steel shear panel. Design formulas for estimating the elastic stiffness and ultimate strength of the damper are proposed.