Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64

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Journal of Constructional Steel Research

Seismic behavior of Self-Buckling-Restrained Steel Plate Shear Wall made

by two incline-slotted infill plates
Peijun Wang ⁎, Zipeng Xue, Shaowen Xiao
Civil Engineering College of Shandong University, Ji'nan, Shandong Province 250061, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper presented seismic behavior of a novel Self-Buckling-Restrained (SBR) Steel Plate Shear Wall (SPSW)
Received 28 June 2016 that was made by two Incline-Slotted Infill Plates (ISIPs) which were tied together by one rubber plate. The di-
Received in revised form 2 February 2017 rections of the incline slots on the two ISIPs were opposite. Stable cycling responses of the SBR-SPSW could be
Accepted 3 February 2017
achieved since at least incline strips on one plate were in tension under the cycle load. At the same time, the strips
Available online xxxx
in tension could provide lateral support to those in compression on the other plate. Behaviors of the SPSW with
Keywords:
two ISIPs and with one Solid Infill Plate (SIP) were compared to show advantages of the proposed SBR-SPSW. The
Steel Plate Shear Wall stress state changed from the tension-compression bi-direction stress state in a SIP to uniaxial tension or com-
Self-buckling-restrained pression in an ISIP. The cracks that usually encountered in a solid steel infill plate under repeated shear buckling
Incline-slotted infill plates could be avoided. And the incline steel strips yielded sequentially that could provide energy dissipation capacity
Shear strength at small drift ratio. At the same time, the ISIP could always ensure the plate yield prior to the frame yield. Param-
Hysteretic behaviors eters of ISIP, including the infill plate thickness, the strips width and the slot width, were investigated through
Energy dissipation device finite element analyses. Shear strengths of the SPSW with two ISIPs decreased with the increase in slot width
and increased with the increase in strip width. Design recommendation for the SBR-SPSW was provided as re-
sults of theoretical and numerical analysis. The shear strength of the SBR-SPSW made by two ISIPs could be cal-
culated by simplified theoretical equations on the safe side.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Steel structures have been widely used in building constructions in
quake-prone region due to their superior strength to weight ratio and
ductility. It has been a common recognition that passive energy dissipa-
tion systems could play an efficient role in reducing damage to struc-
tures caused by earthquake. The Steel Plate Shear Wall (SPSW) system
is composed of steel frame acting as boundary components and infill
steel plate acting as energy dissipation device. It has high elastic stiff-
ness, stable hysteretic behavior, high energy dissipation capacity and
good ductility, which well meets requirements of a passive energy dis-
sipation system.
SPSWs have been designed following three different philosophies:
(1) To strengthen the infill plate, such as using thick infill plate, intro-
ducing cross-stiffener, groined stiffener and diagonal stiffener to
the steel plate [1,2,3], or installing concrete boards on both sides
of the steel plate [4,5] to ensure that the steel wall panel achieves
its full plastic strength prior to shear buckling [6,7]. Apparent
shortcoming of this kind of SPSW is large steel consumption. At
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: pjwang@sdu.edu.cn (P. Wang).
the same time, the yield of infill plate usually lags behind that of
boundary frames, which cannot serve as an energy dissipation
component.
(2) To weaken the infill plate, such as using thin infill plate to allow
shear buckling of the wall panel, introducing vertical slots [8,9], in-
clined slots [10], various shapes of openings [11], boundary slots
[12] to the infill plate, or using low yield steel to make the infill
plate [13,14,15] to reduce its shear strength. It was found that
great post-buckling strength could be achieved in a thin SPSW sys-
tem if a tension field developed [16]. The formation of tension
fields after shear buckling of thin infill plate can help the SPSW
system continue to resist the horizontal force. On the other
hand, tension forces generated by tension fields transmit directly
to the frame column and may cause its premature failure. The elas-
tic shear buckling of infill plate usually leads to the reduction of
stiffness and strength of SPSW system. In addition, the alternated
formation of diagonal tension field and compression field under
cycle load will cause damage of the infill plate, which had been
proved both by experiment and numerical modeling [3,17,18].
(3) Using thin infill steel plate with buckling restrained board [13].
The infill pate can achieve full plastic strength prior to shear buck-
ling. However, the buckling restrained board usually is made of
concrete, which greatly increases the self-weight of the SPSW

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2017.02.001
0143-974X/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
48 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64
system. And for the low tensile strength of concrete, the buckling
restrained board may crack under seismic attack.
Hitaka and Matsui [8] carried out 42 tests on steel wall plates of
roughly one-third of full scale. The basic concept of introducing slots
to the wall was to let the steel plate between two slots behave as a flex-
ural links, which underwent large flexural deformation. Some other re-
searchers proposed to use low yield point steel plate to make shear wall
[13,14,15] due to better ductility and energy dissipation capacity of low
yield point steel.
The infill plate could be strengthened through two different ways.
One was to introduce stiffener to infill plate. Behaviors of stiffened
steel plate shear walls had been studied experimentally by Alavi et al.
[1], Alinia et al. [2], Li et al. [3], indicating that early shear buckle could
be avoid by adding stiffeners. The shear load carrying capacity and stiff-
ness of SPSW could be improved correspondingly. The post-buckle
strength stayed on the shelf certainly. The other was to introduce buck-
ling restrained board to infill plate. Guo et al. [4], Zhang et al. [2] had car-
ried tests on behaviors of thin infill steel plate with buckling restrained
concrete board. The infill plate can achieve full plastic strength prior to
shear buckling due to restraint by concrete board.
For the buckling restrained SPSW made by one infill plate with in-
cline slots, the inclined steel strips could yield both in tension and com-
pression. This enabled high energy dissipation under cycle loads [10].
However, for there was an inevitable gap between the steel plate and
restraint concrete board, the inclined strips might encounter global or
local buckling to some degree when they were in compression, which
led to the stiffness and strength of the SPSW being different in tension
and in compression.
Fig. 1. Configuration of self-buckling-restrained incline slotted SPSW.
A novel Self-Buckling-Restrained Steel Plate Shear Wall (SBR-
SPSW) that made by two Incline-Slotted Infill Plates (ISIP) and one
rubber plate was proposed here. Directions of incline slots on the
two plates were opposite to each other. The two steel plates were
tied together by the rubber plate, as shown in Fig. 1. When incline
steel strips on one plate were in compression, those on the other
were in tension certainly. A consistence stiffness and strength of
the SPSW under cycle load can be achieved. At the same time, the
strips in tension in one plate could provide supports to those in com-
pression in the other to restrain its buckling. Thus, no additional
buckling restraint boards were required.
Compared with the SPSW with ordinary one Solid Infill Plate (SIP),
the SBR-SPSW might have the following advantages:
1. Stress conditions of the infill plate changed from alternated diagonal
tension and compression to uniaxial tension and compression, which
effectively eliminated the plastic damage that usually happened in
conventional steel plate under alternated shear buckling and tension
yielding.
2. The strength and stiffness of SPSW can be adjusted by changing slots
number (n), slot width (s), strip width (b) and incline angle of slots
(α) without changing thickness of infill plates.
3. The two incline slotted infill plates assured that strips in one plate
were in compression and those in the second plate were in tension.
The SPSW made of two incline slotted infill plates had the same
strength and stiffness during the push and pull force, which were
necessary conditions for a SPSW to provide a stable hysteretic behav-
ior and high energy dissipation capacity.
 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64 49

Table 1 behind the shear yielding of infill plate [19]. AISC [20] described that
Specifications of SPSW with two ISIPs and one SIP. VBEs should have moments of inertia (Ic) not less than 0.0031tph4s /ls
Plate type Infill plates Boundary elements and HBEs should have moments of inertia (Ib) not less than
l × h (mm × mm) tp (mm) Steel bf × hf × tf × tw (mm) Steel
0.0031tpl4s /hs. ls was the distance between the left and right VBEs center
type type lines and hs was the distance between the top and bottom HBEs center
lines. tp was the thickness of infill plate. It is evident that the stiffness cri-
ISIP-3 2000 × 2000 3 Q235 300 × 300 × 16 × 16 Q345
ISIP-4 4 terion is only a function of the infill plate thickness and geometrical di-
ISIP-5 5 mensions of the panel [15].
ISIP-6 6 For both the SPSWs made by one SIP with l × h × tp of
SIP-4 4 2000 × 2000 × 6 and made by two ISIPs with l × h × tp of
SIP-6 6
2000 × 2000 × 6 each, VBEs and HBEs with bf × hf × tf × tw of
300 × 300 × 16 × 16 met the design requirements [19,20], as listed in
4. Strips in tension in one plate provided lateral supports to those in Table 1. l, h and tp were length, height and thickness of the infill plate,
compression in the second plate, which formed a self-buckling-re- respectively. bf and hf were the section width and height of VBEs and
straint mechanism. HBEs, tf and tw were the flange and web thickness of HBEs and VBEs.
Seismic behaviors of the SBR-SPSW under lateral load were investi- For the infill plate with thickness less than 6 mm, the section of VBEs
gated numerically and theoretically in this paper. Differences in behav- and HBEs kept unchanged and could met the requirement of AISC [20]
iors between SPSWs with two ISIPs or one SIP were presented, which certainly. Dimensions of the incline slotted plates were shown in
included shear strengths, hysteretic behaviors, skeleton curves and Fig. 1(b). The thickness of rubber adhesive plate was 5 mm.
self-weights. Key parameters of an ISIP, such as height to thickness
ratio, strip width, slots numbers and slots width, were studied. Based 2.2. Finite element model
on the parameter studies, design recommendations were provided.
Seismic behaviors of the SBR-SPWS were studied using the finite el-
2. Finite element model and verification ement analysis software ABAQUS/Explicit. In the Finite Element Model
(FEM), the infill plate and the boundary elements were meshed by
2.1. Design of SPSW shell element S4R, a 4-node quadrilateral shell element with reduced
integration and large-strain formulation, with global mesh size of
The formation of plastic hinges in Horizontal Boundary Elements 40 mm × 40 mm as results of mesh sensitivity analysis. The rubber ad-
(HBEs) and Vertical Boundary Elements (VBEs) of a SPSW should lag hesive plate was meshed by solid element C3D8R, a 8-node linear brick,

Fig. 2. Finite element models of SPSW.

50 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64

Fig. 3. Initial geometric imperfection of SPSWs.

Table 2 The Poisson's ratio of Q235 and Q345 steel material both were 0.3. The
Mechanical properties of steel used in specimen No.1. rubber adhesive bonding material was assumed to be elastic with elastic
Specimen Material Fy (MPa) Fu (MPa)
modulus of 7.8 MPa and Poisson's ratio of 0.47. Furthermore, von Mises
yield criterion was used for material yielding.
No.1 Web of HBE 7 mm plate 444 447
The elastic buckling analysis of the SPSW with one SIP and the SBR-
Web of VBE 9 mm plate 435 453
Flange of HBE 11 mm plate 438 447 SPSW with two ISIPs was carried out first to obtain the buckling modes,
Flange of VBE 14 mm plate 317 442 as shown in the Fig. 3. The first buckling mode was chosen as the initial
Infill plate 8 mm plate 94 272 geometric imperfection with amplitude of [22]
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
δ0 ¼ l  h=1000 ð1Þ
reduced integration with hourglass control, with global mesh size of
40 × 40 mm and two elements in the plate depth.
Connections between the boundary elements were assumed to be 2.3. Validation on finite element model of SBR-SPSW
rigid. Tie constrains were employed between the infill plate and the
boundary elements. For the SBR-SPSW, the incline slotted infill plates Chen and Jhang [13] carried out five tests to investigate behaviors of
were tied to each surface of adhesive plate. the SPSW with infill plate made by Low Yield Point (LYP) steel under cy-
Bottom ends of VBEs were fixed through setting the three transition- clic load. The specimen No.1 was selected to validate the FEM. Dimen-
al degree of freedoms, U1, U2, and U3, being zero, as shown in Fig. 2. The sions of steel infill plate were 1250 mm × 1250 mm with thickness of
z-axis displacements of the top ends of VBEs, U3, were restrained to pre- 8 mm. The LYP steel plate was of square type with width-to-thickness
vent the out-of-plane displacement of the SPSW. Monotonic load and ratio of 156. Mechanical properties of steel were listed in Table 2. The
cycle load were applied at the right end of top HBE by displacement FEM of specimen No. 1 was shown in Fig. 4(a). The comparison of
loading control method in the nonlinear pushover and cyclic analyses, hysteretic behavior was shown in Fig. 4(b). FEM simulation results
respectively. presented by Lubell et al. [16] were also shown in Fig. 4(b).
The elastic-plastic model with kinematic hardening rule was It was found that the shuttle shaped hysteretic curves obtained from
employed in the FEM analyses to represent stress-strain relationship FEM simulation were plumper than those by test, as shown in Fig. 4(b).
of steel material. Boundary elements were made of Q345 [21] steel However, the ultimate strength of the SPSW obtained from FEM simula-
with yield strength fy of 345 MPa, Young's modulus E0 of 210 GPa and tions almost totally equaled to those from cycle load test. And the hys-
the hardening stiffness Et of 0.01 E0. The steel infill plates were made teretic curves predicted by the proposed FEM agreed well with FEM
of Q235 [21] steel with fy of 235 MPa, E0 of 210 GPa and Et of 0.01 E0. simulation results presented by Lubell et al. [16].

Fig. 4. FEM verification by test carried by Chen and Jhang [13].

 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64
Fig. 5. FEM verification by test results carried by Guo and Li [4].
Two 1/3 scaled specimens were fabricated and tested by Guo and Li
[4]. The specimen F4SW was selected to validated the FEM. The dimen-
sions of steel plates of the specimen F4SW were 1780 mm × 1250 mm
with thickness of 2 mm. The FEM was shown in Fig. 5(a). Comparisons
of hysteretic behavior as well as out-of-plane deformation of steel plate
at drift 60 mm were shown in Fig. 5(b) and Fig. 5(c), respectively.
When the SPSW system was pulled, the ultimate strength obtain-
ed from FEM simulations almost totally equaled to those from cycle
load test, as shown in Fig. 5(b). However, when the SPSW system
was pushed, the ultimate strength obtained from FEM simulation
was a little smaller than that measured from cycle load test. The
shuttle shaped hysteretic curves obtained from FEM simulation
matched well with those obtained by test. Both the cycle load test
and the FEM simulation clearly showed that incline tensile strips
were formed in the infill plate when the SPSW buckled, as shown
in Fig. 5(c).
Hitaka and Matsui [8] carried out four series of tests (Series A, B,
C, and D) with a total of 42 specimens. The specimen A202C was se-
lected to validate the FEM. The steel panel for specimen A202C had
the dimension of 800 mm × 800 mm × 4.5 mm. Vertical slits were
cut using a laser with width of 3 mm. The edge stiffeners were
50 mm wide and 4.5 mm thick. The FEM of the steel panel with ver-
tical slots was shown in Fig. 6(a). Hysteretic curves obtained from
test and FEM were shown in Fig. 6(b).
The stiffness obtained from FEM simulation was a little higher than
that measured from cycle load test, as shown in Fig. 6 (b). And the shut-
tle shaped hysteretic curves obtained from FEM simulation were a little
plumper than those by test. Nevertheless, a good fit was generally ob-
served. Also, the shear buckling deformation across vertical slits formed
at ultimate load stage, which was well predicted by FEM as shown in
Fig.6(c) and d.
51
3. Advantages of self-buckling-restrained SPSW
3.1. Avoid cracks of steel in infill plate
Slender SPSWs have superior energy dissipation capacity due to its
lower yielding strength. However, the thin SPSW without buckling re-
straint would form inclined tension field forward and backward alterna-
tively. The keeping translation of the tension field under cycle load
might cause crack of steel infill plate, which had been proved by both
test and numerical simulation [3,4,17].
Li et al. [3] and Li [17] carried out tests on SPSW with same boundary
elements and different construction details under cycle load. Forms of
infill plates included unstiffened SPSW (H), SPSW with openings
(HD2), and cross-stiffened shear wall (HS1). The boundary elements
and infill plates were made of Q235B steel. During the horizontal cyclic
loading, the axial forces on VBEs maintained 400kN. Cracks could be
seen on infill plates of specimen H, HS1 and HD2, as shown in Fig. 7.
FEM simulations by Wang et al. [18] also proved the occurrence of
cracks in infill plates.
Li et al. [4] carried out two tests on 1/3 scaled SPSWs with one-bay,
two-and-half-storey. The sections of VBEs were concrete filled circular
steel tubes with 219 mm × 4 mm, and those of HBEs were
H300 × 150 × 6 × 9. The effective dimension of steel plate was
1560 mm × 1050 mm × 2 mm and the corresponding height-to-thick-
ness ratio λ of steel plate was 550. When the drift ratio reached 1/30,
the cracks along the diagonal direction developed rapidly. More tension
strips appeared on the steel plate, tear slits appeared correspondingly,
as shown in Fig. 8. With the change of loading direction, the bang and
squeaking noise became lighter.
A SPSW with one SIP under cycle load was simulated by the
proposed FEM. The SIP was made of Q235 steel with l × h of
52 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64

Fig. 6. FEM verification by test results carried by Toko Hitaka and Chiaki Matsui [8].

2000 mm × 2000 mm and thickness of 4 mm. Boundary elements took
dimensions listed in Table 1. The formation and transformation of in-
cline tension strips in the 2th load loop was highlighted in blue to dem-
onstrate the deformation of infill plates when it was unloaded from P1
to P2 and then reversely loaded to P3, as shown in Fig. 9. It could be
clearly seen that the swelling deformation in the process of unloading
(annotated by P2) would cause the damage of steel plate when the for-
ward inclined tension fields (annotated by P1) changed to the backward
inclined tension fields (annotated by P3).
Compared with the conventional SPSW with solid plate, the SPSW
with one ISIP released the compression stress perpendicular to the
slots. The inclined strips between two slots remained in uniaxial ten-
sion/compression stress state under cycle loads when the out-of-plane
displacement was restrained. For the unrestrained ISIP in the 2th load
loop (highlighted in blue curve), instead of forming inclined tension
fields in two directions when the SIP shear buckled, the incline stripes
only flexural buckled along the inclined strip under compression and
were straighten under tension, as shown in Fig.10. The fatigue damage
of infill steel plate was avoided. If a SPSW was made by two ISIPs with
slots directions opposite to each other on the two plates, it had equal
strength and stiffness both in push and pull.
3.2. Assure plate yielding prior to frame yielding
Through using ISIP in lieu of SIP, it was easier to design the SPSW in
such a manner to let the infill plate yield prior to that of boundary ele-
ments. Load-drift ratio curves of a SPSW with two ISIPs and with one
SIP were obtained through push-over analysis through the proposed
FEM, where shear load-drift ratio curves demonstrated the in-plane
stiffness and strength performances [15]. In the push-over analysis,
the SPSW was loaded in one direction to failure. Thicknesses of SIP
were 6 mm, 8 mm, 10 mm and 12 mm. For two ISIPs used in SBR-
SPSW, the thickness took half of that of SIP. Configurations of ISIP

Fig. 7. Cracks of infill plates in tests by Li et al. [3,17] and predictions in FEM [18].
 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64 53

Fig. 8. Cracks distribution of infill plate after experiment [4].

were shown in Fig. 1 and boundary elements took sections listed in
Table 1.
The shear load-drift curves of SPSW with two ISIPs and with one SIP
were shown in Fig. 11(a)–(d). First yield points of plate and frame were
denoted by Frame yield and Plate yield, respectively.
It was clearly observed that increase in the infill plate thickness
changed sequence of Plate yield and Frame yield points. However, the
yielding of ISIP in all cases occurred in advance of frame yielding due
to the weakened section by inclined slots, as shown in Fig. 11. Inclined
strips yielded sequentially from the longest strip in middle to the
shorter ones at sides, which provided sustainable strength and stiffness
after yielding of the infill plate.
When the infill plate thickness was less than 10 mm, the SIP yielded
prior to that of boundary elements, as shown in Fig. 11(a) and (b). For
the SIP with thickness of 10 mm, it yielded almost simultaneously
with the frame yielding, as shown in Fig. 11(c). Then with the kept in-
creasing in infill plate thickness, the plate yielding lagged behind that
of frame yielding, which should be avoided for the design of energy dis-
sipation device, as shown in Fig. 11(d).
Strengths of SPSWs made by one SIP with thickness of 4 mm and
8 mm and SBR-SPSW made by two ISIPs with thickness of 4 mm each
were shown in Fig. 12. It was quite evident that the shear strength of
SPSW made by two ISIPs with thickness of 4 mm each was slightly
higher than that of SPSW made by one SIP with thickness of 4 mm, as

Fig. 9. Formation and transformation of incline tension field of a SPSW made by SIP.
54 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64

Fig. 10. Straighten and flexural buckling of inclined strips in a SPSW made by ISIP.

Fig. 11. Load-drift ratio curves of SPSW with two ISIPs and with one SIP.
 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64
Fig. 12. Strength of SPSW with one SIP and two ISIPs.
shown in Fig. 12, for the strips in compression could provide some shear
strength more or less. The shear strength of SPSW made by two ISIPs
with thickness of 4 mm each was much lower than that of SPSW
made by one SIP with thickness of 8 mm, for the incline slots weakened
the infill plate. The plate yielding occurred earlier in the SPSW made by
two ISIPs with total thickness of 8 mm compared with that in the SPSW
made by one SIP with thickness of 8 mm. Furthermore, the frame yield-
ing in the SPSW made by two ISIPs with thickness of 4 mm each came
even later than that in the SPSW made by one SIP with thickness of
4 mm, which was corporately conducive to the capacity of early seismic
energy dissipation and limitation of the plastic deformation demand to
the frame structure.
The SPSW made by two ISIPs with thickness of 8 mm total possessed
stiffness greater than that of SPSW made by one SIP with thickness of
4 mm when the drift ratio was less than 0.001, as shown in Fig. 13.
That is, the SPSW made by two ISIPs could meet stiffness requirements
of a building subjected to common encountered loads when the build-
ing should have a higher stiffness to provide a comfortable environment
for people living in it. The stiffness of SPSW made by two ISIPs with
thickness of 4 mm each equaled to that of SPSW made by one SIP with
thickness of 4 mm when the drift ratio was greater than 0.001 and
equaled to that of SPSW made by one SIP with thickness of 8 mm
when the drift ratio was greater than 0.003. At this circumstance the
building was under earthquake attack, the SPSW served as an energy
Fig. 13. Stiffness of SPSW with one SIP and two ISIPs.
55
dissipation device and reduce the seismic force through plastic
deformation.
Von Mises stress contours of SPSWs made by one SIP with thickness
of 4 mm and 8 mm and SPSW made by two ISIPs with thickness of 4 mm
each at drift ratios of 0.005 and 0.02 were shown in Fig. 14(a)–(f).
It was undoubtable that the stress level and the yielded region were
increased in boundary elements when the drift ratio increased from
0.005 to 0.02, due to higher deformations and forces imposed on these
components as shown in Fig. 14. As well, due to the effect of diagonal
tension field action, yielding zones in HBEs and VBEs were confined to
their ends. The stress contours as well as yielding patterns in boundary
elements of SPSW made by one SIP with thickness of 4 mm and of SPSW
made by two ISIPs with thickness of 4 mm each were pretty similar at
both levels of drift ratio, which indicated that impacts on boundary ele-
ments did not exaggerate although the total infill plate thickness in SBR-
SPSW was doubled. For the SPSW made by one SIP, the yield zones in
boundary elements would be expanded to a much large region if the
infill plate thickness double to 8 mm, as shown in Fig. 14(e) and (f).
Compared with stress contours of the SIP with thickness of 8 mm, as
shown in Fig. 14(g) and (h), those of ISIP with total thickness of 8 mm
showed yielding of all inclined strips at 0.005 drift ratio, which ensured
an early energy dissipation capacity.
3.3. Reduce impact to frame
Distribution of horizontal and vertical forces imposed on VBE by two
ISIPs at drift ratio of 0.02 were shown in Fig. 15. When incline strips in
one ISIP were in tension, those in the other ISIP were in compression in-
evitably. Both incline strips in tension and compression exerted reaction
forces to VBE which indicated that they both effectively participated in
shear loading carrying. Both horizontal forces and vertical forces
exerted on VBE by ISIP in tension were greater than those by ISIP in
compression, as shown in Fig. 15. It meant that the ISIP in tension was
the main component to provide the shear strength and stiffness.
The comparison of horizontal and vertical force distributions im-
posed on VBE by two ISIPs and one SIP was shown in Fig. 16. Horizontal
and vertical forces exerted by ISIPs were the summation of the ISIPs in
tension and in compression. The horizontal forces generated by two
ISIPs with total thickness of 8 mm were lower than those by one SIP
with thickness of 8 mm, as shown in Fig. 16(a). That is, impacts on
boundary elements could be reduced through using ISIP if the infill
plate thickness was the same. For the total thickness of ISIPs were dou-
ble of that of one SIP with thickness of 4 mm, the horizontal forces gen-
erated by two ISIPs with total thickness of 8 mm were a little great than
those by one SIP with thickness of 4 mm. Although the infill plate thick-
ness was doubled, impacts to boundary elements only became a little
higher. Maximum horizontal forces exerted on VBE by the two ISIPs
and the one SIP with thickness of 4 mm and 8 mm occurred near at 1/
3 of column height above floor level, which were 1250 N/mm,
750 N/mm and 1750 N/mm, respectively. At the VBE top end, horizontal
forces exerted by the two ISIPs were much greater than those by the one
SIP with thickness of 8 mm, for the incline strips in the middle in ISIPs
carried most of applied lateral load. In turn it generated a much greater
reaction force.
The vertical forces to VBE by ISIPs were the summation of vertical
components of forces generated by ISIPs in tension and in compression.
Compared with one SIP with thickness of 4 mm and 8 mm, the two ISIPs
caused much greater vertical force to VBE at the top end, as shown in
Fig. 16(b).
3.4. Stable hysteretic behaviors
Hysteretic behavior of SPSWs made by two ISIPs with thickness of
4 mm each and by one SIP with thickness of 4 mm and 8 mm were
shown in Fig. 17. The cyclic loading path was listed in Table 3.
56 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64

Fig. 14. Von Mises stress contours of SPSWs at drift ratios of 0.005 and 0.02 (Unit: MPa).

The SPSW made by two ISIPs with thickness of 4 mm each had 17(a). And compared with those of SPSW made by one SIP with thick-
higher initial stiffness and shear force resistance, compared with those ness of 8 mm, the initial stiffness and shear force resistance of SPSW
of SPSW made by one SIP with thickness of 4 mm, as shown in Fig. made by two ISIPs with total thickness of 8 mm (4 mm each) were
 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64
Fig. 15. Horizontal and vertical forces imposed on VBE by ISIPs at drift ratio of 0.02.
much lower, as shown in Fig. 17(b). For the shear buckling of thin SIP,
hysteretic behaviors of SPSW made by SIP with thickness of 4 mm and
8 mm both showed snap through points, which were well eliminated
in SPSW made by two ISISPs, as annotated in Fig. 17. The snap through
behaviors caused sudden changes of SPSW stiffness that should be
prevented in structure design.
The cumulated dissipated energy at various drift ratios of SPSWs
made by two ISIPs with thickness of 4 mm each and by one SIP with
thickness of 4 mm were shown in Fig. 18. SPSWs made by ISIPs and
SIP both remained elastic prior to 0.0025 of drift ratio. Both ISIP and
SIP showed early yielding and energy dissipation capacity from first
loading cycle. The cumulated dissipated energy of the SPSW made by
one SIP was only a little greater than that by two ISIPs with thickness
of 4 mm each, as shown in Fig. 18.
Skeleton curves of SPSWs made by two ISIPs with thickness of
4 mm each and by one SIP with thickness of 4 mm was presented
in Fig. 19. SPSWs made by ISIP and SIP both remained elastic when
the storey drift ratio was less than 0.0025. Although there was
shear buckling of thin SIP and flexural buckling of ISIP, skeleton
curves of SPSWs with ISIPs and SIP both were quite stable and
consistent.
Through comparison of hysteretic behaviors and skeleton curves of
SPSWs with two ISIPs and one SIP with the same plate thickness, it
could be found that the one SIP could be directly replaced by two
ISIPs. Although the stiffness and shear strength were not improved sig-
nificantly, the fatigue damage and the premature yielding of boundary
elements could be eliminated.
57
Fig. 16. Forces imposed on VBE by two ISIPs and one SIP at drift ratio of 0.02.
3.5. Comparative study of different SPSW systems
The use of ISIP made it possible to adjust the strength and stiffness of
SPSW with fixed dimension and thickness by changing the size of in-
cline slots simply. For some low-rise buildings, the required thickness
of steel plate is generally thinner than the minimum thickness that is
suitable for welded and corrosion resistance requirement. Therefore,
the used steel plate might be thicker than the design requirement. In
such cases, the infill plate needs to weaken to avoid the excess stiffness
induced by the thicker steel plate. Some treatments have been proposed
to avoid the excess stiffness induced by the thicker steel plate, such as
using a low yielding steel plate [15], providing incline slots in a buck-
ling-restrained steel plate [10] and partially connecting the steel plates
to the frame.
Performances of four different types of infill plate were evaluated by
considering the infill plate thickness (tp), self-weight (Mi), initial stiff-
ness (Ki) and strength at 0.02 drift ratio (FDR = 0.05) as summarized in
Table 4. The results were presented in a normalized manner by dividing
the Mi, Ki and FDR = 0.05 for different infill plates by the corresponding
values for the Model No.1, i.e. traditional solid infill steel plate (SIP).
Model No. 2 was two layers ISIPs. Model No. 3 was infill steel plate
made by low yield point steel [15] with fy = 100 MPa (LYPIP), while
model No.4 was one layer incline slotted steel plate sandwiched be-
tween two external concrete panels [10] with thickness of 40 mm
(ISIP-C). All four different infill plates were 2000 mm × 2000 mm and
embedded in the same framework listed in Table 1, slots width of
ISIPs and ISIP-C changing from 10 mm to 100 mm. The lateral load
58 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64
Fig. 17. Comparison of hysteretic behavior of SPSWs made by ISIP and SIP.
was applied at the right end of top HBE by displacement loading control
method until the target drift ratio (0.02).
By comparing the Mi/M1, Ki/K1 and Fi/F1 in Table 4, it was found that
adjustment of initial stiffness and strength of infill plate could be
achieved through using ISIPs with a desirable self-weight of material.
It was easier to strengthen or weaken an infill plate in appropriate
range in order to meet different design requirement.
4. Parameter studies on SPSW made by two ISIPs
Effects of geometric parameters, including infill plate slenderness
ratio, slot width (s) and strip width (b), on behaviors of SPSW made
by two ISIPs were investigated by FEM. Hysteretic behaviors and shear
resistances of SPSWs with different parameters were compared.
4.1. Effect of slenderness ratio
Four slenderness ratios were studied, which were 666.7, 500.0, 400.0
and 333.3. The corresponding thickness of infill plate were 3 mm, 4 mm,
5 mm and 6 mm. Buckling behaviors of SBR-SPSW with different ISIP
Table 3
Loading path.
Cycle no. 1 2 3 4 5 6
Drift ratio (rad) 0.0025 0.0050 0.0075 0.01 0.015
Fig. 18. Cumulated dissipated energy of SPSWs with ISIP and SIP.
thickness were illustrated in Fig. 20, where out-of-plane displacements
were plotted against the applied lateral loads. The load vs. drift ratio
curves were shown in Fig. 21.
Fig. 20 showed the buckling strength and yielding sequences of
components in SPSWs with ISIPs with various plate slenderness ra-
tios. It was clear that the increasing of plate thickness resulted in a
considerable increase in buckling strength and decrease in out-of-
plane
With the increase in infill plate thickness, the plate yield point oc-
curred at a higher drift ratio. However, for the SPSW with different
infill plate thickness, the plate yield point was always prior to the
frame yield point, as shown in Fig. 21. The shear strength of SBR-
SPSW increased proportionally with increasing of the infill plate
slenderness ratio, which was the same with a SPSW made by one
SIP [15].
The stiffness-drift ratio curves of SBR-SPSWs with various infill plate
thicknesses were shown in Fig. 22. For the SBR-SPSW with different
infill plate thickness, the initial lateral stiffness of SBR-SPSW decreased
with the decrease of infill plate thickness, and gradually diminished as
the drift ratio increased. However, it could be seen that SBR-SPSW expe-
rienced elastic deformations with maximum lateral stiffness. Before the
drift ratio of about 0.12%, there was a small stiffness reduction due to
0.02
Fig. 19. Comparison of skeleton curves of SPSWs with ISIP and SIP.
 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64 59

Table 4
Comparison of different SPSW systems.

Model Plate type tp (mm) L/H M (kg) KInitial (N/mm) FDR = 0.02 (kN)

Mi Mi/M1 Ki Ki/K1 Fi Fi/F1

No.1 SIP 4 (s) 1 124.8 1.00 260.0 1.00 968.4 1.00

No.2 ISIPs 4 (s) + 4 (s) 1 166.4– 237.7 1.33– 1.90 233.9– 294.8 0.79– 1.13 870.0– 1120.1 0.90– 1.16
No.3 LYPIP 8 (s) 1 249.6 2.00 464.6 1.79 868.1 0.90
No.4 ISIP-C 4 (s) + 40 (c) 1 883.2– 918.8 7.08– 7.36 137.4– 166.5 0.53– 0.64 661.4– 877.0 0.68– 0.91

local buckling of steel strips in compression from middle to sides. Be-

yond the drift ratio of about 0.12%, there was a reduction due to sequen-
tial yielding of steel strips in tension. The yielding zone spread out with
the increase of the shear force and there was a sharp drop in the lateral
stiffness when the drift reached 0.55% because all of the inclined strips
yielded. Also, as shown in Fig. 22, the plate and frame first yielded in
the SPSW with ISIPs occurred and 0.12% and 0.55% average drift ratios,
respectively.
Hysteresis curves of SPSW made by two ISIPs with various infill
plate thicknesses were shown in Fig. 23. Hysteresis circles of the
SBR-SPSW increased with the increase in infill plate thickness, as
shown in Fig. 23(a). When the thickness of infill plate doubled, hys-
teresis circles of the SBR-SPSW could be enlarged doubly, as shown
in Fig. 23(b).

Fig. 22. Stiffness-drift ratio curves of SPSWs with various infill plate thickness.

Fig. 20. Buckling behaviors of SPSWs with various infill plate thicknesses.

Fig. 21. Load-drift ratio curves of SPSWs with various infill plate thickness. Fig. 23. Hysteresis curves of SPSW made by two ISIPs with various infill plate thicknesses.
60 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64

Fig. 24. ISIPs with different slot width.

4.2. Effect of slot width
Through introducing incline slots to the infill plate, the lateral stiff-
ness and the shear strength of a SPSW with fixed height and width
would not be limited by the plate thickness and yield strength of steel.
Various levels of lateral stiffness and shear strength of a SPSW could
be obtained by changing the slots width.
Four slot widths were investigated, which were 10 mm, 40 mm,
70 mm and 100 mm. The strip width was kept 200 mm each, as
shown in Fig. 24. The thickness of ISIP was 4 mm each. Load-drift ratio
curves and stiffness-drift ratio curves of SPSWs with various ISIPs with
different slot width were shown in Fig. 25 and Fig. 26, respectively. As
clearly observed, both the strength and stiffness of SPSWs decreased
with the increase in slot width.
4.3. Effect of strip width
Four strip widths were studied which were 100 mm, 150 mm,
200 mm and 250 mm. The slot width was 40 mm each, as shown in
Fig. 27. The thickness of ISIP was 4 mm each. Load-drift ratio curves
and stiffness-drift ratio curves of SPSWs with various ISIPs with differ-
ent strip width were shown in Fig. 28 and Fig. 29, respectively. As clearly

Fig. 25. Load-drift ratio curves of SPSWs with various slot widths. Fig. 26. Stiffness-drift ratio curves of SPSWs with various slot widths.
 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64 61

Fig. 27. ISIPs with different incline strip width.

observed, both the strength and stiffness of SPSWs increased with the width. And if the slot width was kept constant, the shear strength of a
increase in strip width. SPSW increased with the increase in steel strip width.

4.4. Summary of parameter studies 5. Theoretical investigations on shear load carrying capacity of ISIPs

Except for the slenderness ratio of infill plate, the shear strength of
SBR-SPSW could be adjusted by the incline slot width and the incline
strip width. If the incline steel strip width was kept constant, the
shear strength of a SPSW decreased slightly with the increase in slot
5.1. Simplified analysis model of ISIPs
The shear resistance of SPSW made by two ISIPs was summation of
axial strengths of incline steel strips in tension and in compression, as
shown in Fig. 30.

Fig. 28. Load-drift ratio curves of SPSWs with various strip widths. Fig. 29. Stiffness-drift ratio curves of SPSWs with various strip widths.
62 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64

Fig. 30. Simplified analysis model of SPSW made by two ISIPs.

The shear strength of SPSW made by two ISIPs contributed by incline The shear strength of SPSW made by two ISIPs contributed by incline
strips in tension yielding could be calculated by reducing the shear strips in compression was calculated by
yielding strength of a solid panel with the same overall dimensions by
a factor ð1− l ns Þ [10]:
n σ iA
sinα V 0y ¼ 0:5 ∑  sin2α ð5Þ
i sinα
 ns 
V y ¼ 0:5 1− f  l  t  sin2α ð2Þ
l  sinα y where A was the section area of strips.
The shear resistance of SPSW made by two ISIPs was summation of
where l and t were the length and thickness of the steel plate. fy was the axial strengths of incline steel strips in tension and in compression.
yielding stress of the steel. α was the angle between the columns and in-
cline slots. s was the width of an incline slot and n was the total number V ¼ V y þ V 0y ð6Þ
of the incline slots.
Incline strips in compression might be failed by compression yield- The shear resistance of SPSW made by two ISIPs calculated by theo-
ing or flexural buckling. The design stress of incline strips in compres- retical Eq. (6) was verified by FEM simulations in the following sections.
sion was
n o 5.2. SPSW with ISIPs having different slot width
σ i ¼ min σ ci ; f y ð3Þ
Shear strengths of SBR-SPSWs with different slot width at drift
where σci was the flexural buckling strength of the i-th incline strip that ratio of 0.02 obtained by FEM, together with those calculated by Eq.
was calculated by (6), were shown in Fig. 32. They both decreased with the increase
of slot width. However, those obtained by Eq. (6) were only 81.0%
π 2 Es of those predicted by FEM, which might be due to ignoring beneficial
σ ci ¼ ð4Þ
λi 2 effects of lateral supports to strips in compression provided by strips
in tension.
where Es was the elastic modulus of steel. Incline strips in tension provided lateral supports to those in com-
Steel strips in tension could provide lateral supports to those in com- pression, which formed a self-buckling-restraint mechanism. Buckling
pression, which formed the self-buckling-restraint mechanism, as modes of the incline strip in the middle with/without lateral supports
shown in Fig. 31. Thus the flexural buckling stress was improved. Here by incline strips in tension were shown in Fig. 33. The incline strip with-
the beneficial effects of steel strips in tension were neglected. out lateral supports buckled in the 1st order flexural buckling mode;

Fig. 31. Elastic supports to strips in compression provided by those in tension. Fig. 32. Shear strength of ISIPs with different slot width.
 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64 63

Fig. 33. Buckling modes of incline strip with/without lateral supports by incline strips in tension.

and that with lateral supports by strips in tension buckled in the 3rd strengths obtained by FEM and Eq. (6). That is, if the strip width was
order flexural buckling mode. The elastic flexural buckling strength of kept 200 mm, the Eq. (6) could be used to calculate the shear strength
a strut was calculated by of a SBR-SPSW on the safe side.

n2 π2 EI 5.3. SPSW with ISIPs having different strip width

P cr ¼ 2
ð7Þ
l
Shear strengths of SBR-SPSWs with different strip width at drift
ratio of 0.02 obtained by FEM, together with those calculated by the-
where n was the buckling order. That is, the flexural buckling strength of
oretical Eq. (6), were shown in Fig. 34. They both increased slightly
incline strips could be improved by 9 times with the help of incline
with the increase of strip width. However, those obtained by
strips in tension.
Eq. (6) were smaller than those predicted by FEM. The difference be-
Shear strengths obtained from FEM and theoretical Eq. (6) were
tween shear strengths obtained by FEM and Eq. (6) increased with
listed in Table 5. The difference was around 24% between shear
the increase in strip width, which indicated that the beneficial effects
provided by incline strips in tension would increase with the in-
crease in strip width.
Table 5 Shear strengths obtained from FEM and theoretical Eq. (6) were
Shear strengths of SPSW with different slot width.
listed in Table 6. The difference between shear strengths obtained by
ISIP Width of slots (s, mm) 10 40 70 100 FEM and Eq. (6) increased from 18.2% to 26.9% when the strip width in-
Number of slots (n) 5 5 4 4 creased from 100 mm to 250 mm.
Eq. (6) VTH (kN) 901 814 760 705
FEM VFEM (kN) 1120 1045 950 890
(VFEM − VTH) / VTH 24.3% 28.4% 25.0% 26.2% 6. Design recommendations for SBR-SPSW

The SPSW made by one SIP could be replaced by that made by two
ISIPs to improve seismic behavior of a structure. Design recommenda-
tions for a SBR-SPSW were as follows:

1. The thickness of the ISIP each took that of the SIP.

2. The incline strip width could take 200 mm and the incline slot width
could take 40 mm.
3. The shear strength of the SBR-SPSW made by two ISIPs could be cal-
culated by Eq. (6) on the safe side.
4. The boundary elements need not be strengthened for impacts from
the two ISIPs and the one SIP were nearly the same.

Table 6
Shear strengths of SPSW with different strip width.

ISIP Width of strips (b, mm) 100 150 200 250

Number of slots (n) 8 6 5 4
Eq. (6) (VTH, kN) 736 790 814 844
FEM (VFEM, kN) 870 950 1010 1071
(VFEM − VTH) / VTH 18.2% 20.2% 24.1% 26.9%
Fig. 34. Shear strength of SBR-SPSWs with different strip width.
64 P. Wang et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 133 (2017) 47–64
7. Conclusion
A self-buckling-restrained SPSW made by two ISIPs was proposed
and its seismic behavior was investigated by verified FEM and theoret-
ical analysis. Stable hysteretic cycles could be achieved since at least in-
cline strips in one plate were in tension under the cycle load and these
strips in tension could provide lateral support to those in compression
in the other plate, which formed a self-buckling-restrained mechanism.
Advantages of the proposed SBR-SPSW were illustrated through com-
parison with the SPSW made by one SIP. Effects of geometric parame-
ters on seismic behavior of the SBR-SPSW were presented. Shear
strengths obtained by FEM and theoretical equations were compared.
Main findings could be summarized as follows:
1. The stress state in an ISIP changed from the tension-compression bi-
direction stress state in a SIP to uniaxial tension and compression,
which could efficiently relieve the fatigue damage of steel infill
plate under repeated shear buckling.
2. Incline steel strips yielded sequentially that ensured energy dissipa-
tion capacity at small drift ratio. At the same time, the ISIP could al-
ways ensure the plate yield prior to the frame yield.
3. Except for the infill plate slenderness ratio and steel yield strength,
two more geometric parameters that were the slot width and the
strip width were introduced. Various levels of lateral stiffness and
shear strength could be achieved for a SBR-SPSW with fixed width
and height.
4. Design recommendations for the SBR-SPSW were provided as results
of theoretical and numerical analysis. The thickness of the ISIP each
could simply take that of the SIP. The incline strip width could take
200 mm and the incline slot width could take 40 mm. The shear
strength of the SBR-SPSW made by two ISIPs could be calculated by
the proposed design equation on the safe side.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the support from the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (51578322, 51608305), the Natu-
ral Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2015EM041,
2016GGX103013) and Independent Innovation Foundation of Shan-
dong University (2015JC046) for the work reported in this paper.
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