Amirhosein Rasszadeh - Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Ardeshir Deylami - Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Alireza Rahai - Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Steel plate shear walls consist of thin infill steel plates attached to beams, called (horizontal boundary elements, HBEs),and columns (vertical boundary elements, VBEs) in structural steel frames. The thin unstiffened web plates are expectedto buckle in shear at low load levels and develop tension field action, providing ductility and energy dissipation throughtension yielding of the web plate. HBEs are designed for stiffness and strength requirements and are expected to anchorthe tension field formation in the web plates. VBEs are designed for yielding of web plates and plastic hinge formation atthe ends of the HBEs. This design approach may result in very large demand on boundary frame members, especiallyVBEs in most cases. Several methods such as using LYP, perforating the infill plate and omitting connection of infill plateto columns have been proposed to reduce the moment and axial force demands on the VBEs. Study the behavior of steelplate shear walls omitting the connection of infill plate and columns is the main purpose of this research. A classic analysisbase on PFI method along with quasi static cyclic experimental study has been performed in order to investigate thebehavior of such a system. The results of the experimental study are used to verify numerical models. Behaviors ofproposed system (overall capacity and initial stiffness) were compared with those of the conventional SPSWs. Resultsshow that both parameters are reduced in comparison to the conventional SPSWs.

SPSW; Hystertic Behavior; Ultimate Capacity; Initial Stiffness