Influence of diagonal stiffeners on the response of steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) considering crack propagation

Steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) have shown a desirable performance in experimental studies and past earthquakes. The advantages of the SPSW and its good performance against lateral loads persuade designers to utilize the system in their practical projects. Some important aspects of the SPSW have remained unknown in spite of valuable experimental and numerical studies. One of these unknown characteristics is the effect of cracks on the SPSW behavior. Several experimental studies have reported fracture in SPSW due to crack propagation during testing, but the experimental studies have not investigated the crack effect. Due to low thickness of steel plate and inherence of crack, the crack propagation in SPSW with stiffeners cannot be ignored. In this paper, behavior of SPSWs strengthened with diagonal stiffeners considering crack propagation is studied using finite element modeling. Numerical results revealed that stiffened walls exhibit better behavior in presence of crack compared to SPSW in both elastic and inelastic zones. It is also concluded that thicker stiffeners enhance the seismic parameters of SPSW (stiffness, energy absorption and capacity). The effect of crack was also presented as mathematical equations to estimate load-displacement curve. The equations proposed are in agreement with the finite element results.