Cyclic Test of Four-Story Steel Plate Shear Wall

Abstract

A large-scale, four-story, single bay steel plate shear wall specimen with unstiffened panels was tested using controlled cyclic loading to determine its behavior under an idealized severe earthquake event. The shear wall had moment-resisting beam-to-column connections, resulting in a lateral load-resisting system that possesses an inherent redundancy. Gravity loads were applied at the top of the wall and equal horizontal loads were applied at the four floor levels. The specimen endured 30 cycles of loading during the test, of which 20 cycles were in the inelastic range. Prior to failure of the specimen, the deflection reached in the lowest story was nine times the yield deflection. The test specimen proved to be initially very stiff, showed excellent ductility and energy dissipation characteristics, and exhibited stable behavior at very large deformations and after many cycles of loading. A description of the test setup, loading procedures, and specimen behavior is presented.