Ring Shaped-Steel Plate Shear Walls

“New thinking, new possibilities.”

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In This article I will talk about a study I prepared about a new lateral force resisting system, Ring Shaped-Steel Plate Shear Walls, RSSPSW.

This system has been studied experimentally and analytically by researchers, using large scale experimental methods. Figure 1 shows the typical configuration of RSSPSW system I modeled by Tekla Structures.

I used the results of a verified experiment to create a calibrated finite element model using ABAQUS/CAE. Figure 2 demonstrates von Mises stress and the response of the RSSPSW to quasi static displacement-controlled analysis.

It was found that the ring-shaped plate gives a significant enhancement in the capability of dissipating seismic energy by early yielding in the ring-shaped plate before buckling takes a place, avoiding undesirable pinched hysteresis loop, as shown in Figure 3.

Furthermore, investigating von Mises stress in the wall’s plate reveals the location of plastic regions, as shown in figure 4, which gives a good demonstration of the behavior of the system so it can be developed structurally.

By rearranging the geometrical parameters of the ring-shaped plate, and using finite element analysis, I proved that the ductility of RSSPSW would increase significantly. However, the results I found need to be verified experimentally, hinting that the space of RSSPSW is a good one to be probed to find new answers for new questions.