Experimental and numerical study on steel-concrete composite shear wall using light-weight concrete

• The cyclic test results indicate that CSPSW with a light-weight concrete is a reliable lateral load-resisting system.
• No pinching in the hysteretic curves of CSPSW specimens was observed while undergoing large lateral displacement.
• The shear capacity of specimen with light-weight concrete was approximately similar to specimen with normal-weight one.
• The steel plate of CSPSW undergoes entirely inelastic deformation and dissipates significant seismic energy.

In the present study, the behaviour of concrete stiffened steel plate shear wall (CSPSW) using precast light weight-concrete panels is experimentally and numerically investigated. Three one-bay one-story CSPSW specimens were designed, fabricated, and tested. The steel materials and dimensions of all specimens were the same; however, their precast concrete panels were different. One of the specimens had a precast normal-weight concrete panel on one side of the infill steel plate; on the other hand, another specimen had a light-weight one. The third specimen had two light-weight concrete panels on both sides of the steel plate. The quasi-static cyclic test results indicate that CSPSW with a light-weight concrete panel is a reliable lateral load-resisting system for steel structures. In addition, the shear capacity of specimen with light-weight concrete was approximately similar to specimen with normal-weight one. Therefore, it can be inferred the new system is able to reduce the seismic mass and improve the behaviour of steel structures. In this study, the light-weight concrete panel was 36% lighter than normal-weight panel. Based on the test data, specimens could tolerate high inter-story drift between 5.04% and 6.24% until the shear capacity decline in 80% of the maximum shear load recoded in the test. It should be mentioned that the infill steel plate of CSPSW undergoes entirely inelastic deformation and dissipates significant seismic energy through large lateral displacement.