LATERAL RESISTANCE AND OPTIMIZED DESIGN OF EMBEDDED PANELS IN FOLDED STEEL PLATE WALLS WITH VERTICAL CONNECTIONS ON BOTH SIDES

This paper deals with the shear resistant behaviour for infill corrugated panels in steel corrugated shear walls connected only to the boundary beams and proposes recommendations for optimal configurations of the infill panels, by using the finite element analyses. The reliability of the finite element model and analysis method is verified by comparing with the previous experimental results. Then two typical lateral resistant mechanisms of 'strong plate' and 'weak plate' for corrugated panels are revealed under monotonic loading, accompanied by the investigation of the effects of key parameters on lateral resistance. It shows that: with the increase of the panel span the proportion of inefficient shear zone decreases and the lateral resistant capacity is increased; the increment of the sub-panel inclined angle and plate thickness can improve the lateral resistance especially the post-buckling load capacity; the formula of optimal corrugation length is developed as other parameters are determined. To decrease the effect of low efficiency shear zone, stiffening members are arranged on the two free sides of the infill panel, and the critical constraint stiffness ratio is suggested to achieve full restraining effect. Stiffeners significantly improve the ultimate resistance and the post-buckling capacity of the infill panel, especially effectively for panels with a small aspect ratio. The hysteretic analysis of infill panels shows that the skeleton curves of 'weak walls' are significantly lower than that under monotonic loading due to the accumulated residual deformation under cyclic loading. In contrast, the out-of-plane deformation of 'strong plate' is always small and the lateral resistance is stable. Based on the hysteretic results of extensive numerical analysis, the optimal configuration of infill corrugated panels is recommended, which provides an important reference for the preliminary design.