Hysteretic characteristics of unstiffened plate shear panels

A series of quasi-static cyclic loading tests on unstiffened plate shear panels is described. All the panels tested exhibited adequate ductility and stable S-shaped hysteresis loops, with the energy absorbed per cycle increasing with the maximum amplitude of shear displacement. A theoretical model for predicting the hysteretic characteristics is presented, which incorporates the influences of shear buckling of the web plate and plastic yielding of the web plate and surrounding frame. Theoretical predictions are compared and show satisfactory agreement with the experimental results. The simplicity of the theoretical model is such that it can be readily incorporated in nonlinear dynamic analyses of steel plate shear walls.