Behavior of FRP-reinforced steel plate shear walls with various reinforcement designs

The nonlinear behavior of single- and multi-story steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) strengthened with three different patterns of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) laminates (including single-strip, multi-strip and fully FRP-strengthened models) is studied using the finite element analysis. In the research, the effects of orientation, width, thickness and type (glass or carbon) of FRP sheets as well as the system aspect ratio and height are investigated. Results show that, despite an increase in the system strength using FRP sheets, ductility of reinforced SPSWs is decreased due to the delay in the initiation of yielding in the infill wall, while their initial stiffness does not change significantly. The content/type/reinforcement pattern of FRPs does affect the nonlinear behavior characteristics and also the mode and pattern of failure. In the case of multi-strip and fully FRP-strengthened models, the use of FPR sheets almost along the direction of the infill wall tension fields can maximize the effectiveness of reinforcement. In the case of single-strip pattern, the effectiveness of reinforcement is decreased for larger aspect ratios. Moreover, a relatively simplified and approximate theoretical procedure for estimating the strength of SPSWs reinforced with different patterns of FRP laminates is presented and compared with the analytical results.