Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Steel Frame with Shear Panel at Mid-Span

During the last two decades, the semi-supported steel shear wall (SSSW) has been introduced as an alternative to the traditional form of steel plate shear wall (SPSW) system. In this paper, a numerical and experimental study on the behavior of a pinned connection steel frame with a mid-span shear panel, as well as the effect of opening existence on the system behavior is investigated. In this system, shear panel consisting of infill steel plate, stiffeners perpendicular to infill plate and secondary columns are placed in the middle of the steel frame span with pinned connections and unlike conventional SPSW system and SSSW system, the buckling of the infill plate is prevented and energy dissipation is carried out by shear. Experimental studies were performed on two specimens with a scale of ۱:۲. The characteristics of both specimens are the same and the only difference is the presence of opening in the second specimen. The results showed that in both specimens, the hysteretic curves were spindle-shape and without pinching. Moreover, numerical results were in good agreement with the experimental ones. Numerical studies showed that the energy dissipation and shear strength were increased with decreasing the opening ratio as well as decreasing height to thickness ratio of the infill plate. For example, in models with slenderness ratio of ۲۰۰, the dissipated energy and maximum strength in the model with an opening ratio of ۰.۴ were about ۴۷% and ۳۸% less than that of the model without opening, respectively.