Abstract: Elastic buckling behavior of two kinds of steel plate shear walls(SPSW) formed by cross stiffened panel and diagonal stiffened panel is investigated.Local buckling mode,overall buckling mode and their interaction are classified,depending on the stiffness ratio of stiffener to panel(η).Elastic buckling analysis is carried out to reveal the inherent properties of SPSW.The analysis is related closely with three parameters,namely the panel slenderness ratio(λ),the stiffness ratio of stiffener to panel(η),and the column stiffness(β).Results show that the current technical specification for steel structure of tall buildings(JGJ99-98) overpredicts the elastic buckling load when the stiffness ratio of stiffener to panel is less than 40.A modified coefficient for elastic buckling of the panel considering the influence of the column stiffness is proposed,and a simplified formula is given to predict the buckling load of the panel with diagonal stiffeners.