NEESR-SG/NCREE International Collaborative Research on the Development of Self-Centering Steel Plate Shear Walls

NEESR-SG/NCREE International Collaborative Research on the Development of Self-Centering Steel Plate Shear Walls

An international collaborative research program between the Taiwan National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering(NCREE) and a U.S. NEESR-SG team, composed of researchers from the University of Washington(UW) and University at Buffalo(UB), was conducted between 2012 and 2013 to develop a novel self-centering steel plate shear wall(SC-SPSW) system. This research leverages the strength and energy dissipating capabilities of steel plate shear walls(SPSWs) with self-centering technologies to reduce structural repair costs and loss of building functionality following an earthquake. Extensive experiments were conducted and consisted of three major components:(i) large-scale quasi-static testing of SC-SPSW subassemblies,(ii) quasi-static and shaking table testing of third-scale, three-story SC-SPSWs, and(iii) pseudo-dynamic testing of two full-scale, two-story SC-SPSWs at multiple seismic hazard levels. Major outcomes of these tests include: validation of the seismic performance of various SC-SPSW configurations, development of a new post-tensioned(PT) beam-to-column connection to eliminate frame expansion that is typical of self-centering systems, and recommendations for SC-SPSW design, detailing, and modeling.