Subassembly testing and modeling of self-centering steel plate shear walls

Experimental and numerical studies have shown self-centering steel plate shear walls (SC-SPSWs) to exhibit enhanced performance including recentering during extreme loading, making them a viable lateral load resisting system for high seismic regions capable of reducing structural repair costs and loss of building functionality after an earthquake. SC-SPSWs utilize thin steel web plates to provide lateral load resistance and energy dissipation, while rocking post-tensioned (PT) beam-to-column connections recenter the building and, if properly designed, eliminate costly damage to the boundary frame. A series of quasi-static cyclic tests have been conducted on SC-SPSW subassemblages. The purpose of these tests is to better understand SC-SPSW and component behavior and the impact of certain web plate and PT connection parameters on performance. This paper presents the results from the test program and also compares the experimental results to those of simple numerical models.