Effect of stiffeners on steel plate shear wall systems

Stiffeners have widely been used in lateral load resisting systems to improve the buckling stability of shear panels in steel frames. However, due to major differences between plate girders and steel plate shear walls (SPSWs), use of plate girder equations often leads to uneconomical and, in some cases, incorrect design of stiffeners. Hence, this paper uses finite element analysis (FEA) to describe the effect of the rigidity and arrangement of stiffeners on the buckling behavior of plates. The procedures consider transverse and/or longitudinal stiffeners in various practical configurations. Subsequently, curves and formulas for the design of stiffeners are presented. In addition, the influence of stiffeners on the inward forces subjected to the boundary elements and the tension field angle is investigated as well. The results indicate that the effective application of stiffeners in SPSW systems not only improves the structural behavior, such as stiffness, overall strength and energy absorption, but also leads to a reduction of the forces that are exerted on the boundary elements.