Experimental study and numerical simulation on steel plate shear walls with non-uniform spacing slits

Numerous experimental and finite element studies have shown that steel plate shear walls with slits have several beneficial characteristics, such as good ductility and excellent energy dissipation capacity, which make them a feasible lateral load resisting and energy dissipation system for high-rise buildings in high seismic regions. The width of the flexural links between slits has a significant effect on the mechanical behavior and hysteretic performance of steel plate shear walls with slits. This paper presented two kinds of steel plate shear walls with non-uniform spacing slits (SPWNS) and investigated their performance under low-cycle loading based on tests and finite element software. The study mainly focused on the ultimate bearing capacity, the lateral stiffness, the energy dissipation capacity and the ductility of SPWNS. The results from numerical analysis and test study were compared with each other. The ultimate bearing capacity and the lateral stiffness of traditional steel plate shear walls with uniform spacing slits (SPWUS) were similar to that of SPWNS. In contrast, the ductility and the energy dissipation capacity of SPWUS were much higher.