Numerical investigation on cyclic behavior of steel shear panels endowed with innovative perforation patterns

Steel Plate Shear walls (SPSWs) due to their high seismic performance such as ductility and valuable energy dissipation capacity, have been deemed as an effective seismic device in buildings for protecting constructions from fatal fractures. The present study investigates the structural behavior of SPSWs with an innovative elliptical perforation pattern. The elliptical perforation pattern is consisted of ellipse-shaped holes which are located in the perimeter of the web plate same as a peripheral perforation layout. Therefore, the effectiveness of geometric properties of links between both ellipse-shaped holes and opening array on hysteretic behavior are studied numerically. To this aim, two experimental laboratory cyclic tests were initially verified through finite element models and the corresponding deformation shapes according to the Von-Mises stresses were perfectly captured. Subsequently, sixteen perforated specimens with various geometric properties of links which are different in the length and the slenderness ratios are investigated. The results show that the specimens with narrow links improve the pinching force significantly allowing for large energy dissipation capacity.