Plastic Analysis and Design of Steel Plate Shear Walls

A revised procedure for the design of steel plate shear walls is proposed. In this procedure the thickness of the infill plate is found using equations that are derived from the plastic analysis of the strip model, which is an accepted model for the representation of steel plate shear walls. Comparisons of experimentally obtained ultimate strengths of steel plate shear walls and those predicted by plastic analysis are given and reasonable agreement is observed. Fundamental plastic collapse mechanisms for several, more complex, wall configurations are also given. Additionally, an existing codified procedure for the design of steel plate walls is reviewed and a section of this procedure which could lead to designs with less-than-expected ultimate strength is identified. It is shown that the proposed procedure eliminates this possibility without changing the other valid sections of the current procedure.