Comparison of web plate numerical models for self‐centering steel plate shear walls

Previous research has shown that self‐centering steel plate shear walls (SC‐SPSWs) are capable of achieving enhanced seismic performance at multiple hazard levels, including recentering following design‐level earthquakes. When modeling SC‐SPSWs numerically, these studies considered an idealized tension‐only steel plate shear wall (SPSW) web plate behavior. Research has shown that web plate behavior is more complex than predicted by the idealized model, and web plates can provide more strength, stiffness, and energy dissipation than predicted by the idealized model. The idealized model of web plate behavior is used widely in SPSW numerical models where the moment‐resisting boundary frame provides supplemental hysteretic damping and stiffness; however, in SC‐SPSWs, where the post‐tensioned boundary frame is designed to remain elastic during an earthquake, accounting for the more complex web plate behavior can have a significant impact on seismic performance estimates from numerical simulation. This paper presents different methods for modeling SC‐SPSWs. Responses from these models are compared with experimental results. A simple modification of the tension‐only model, referred to as the tension‐compression strip model, is shown to provide a reasonable approximation of SC‐SPSW behavior. Results from nonlinear response history analyses of SC‐SPSWs with the tension‐only and tension‐compression web plate models are compared to assess how the approximation of web plate behavior affects SC‐SPSW seismic performance. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.