Development of a simplified equivalent braced frame model for steel plate shear wall systems

Steel Plate Shear Walls (SPSWs) have been accepted widely as an effective lateral load resisting system. For seismic performance evaluation of a multi-story building with SPSWs, detailed finite element models or a strip model can be used to represent the SPSW components. However, such models often require significant effort for tall or medium height buildings. In order to simplify the analysis process, discrete elements for the framing members can be used. This paper presents development of a simplified equivalent braced model to study the behavior of the SPSWs. The proposed model is expected to facilitate a simplification to the structural modeling of large buildings with SPSWs in order to evaluate the seismic performance using regular structural analysis tools. It is observed that the proposed model can capture the global behavior of the structures quite accurately and potentially aid in the performance-based seismic design of SPSW buildings.