Seismic performance of self-centering steel plate shear walls with beam-only-connected web plates

• Connecting web plates to only the beams reduces column demands in SC-SPSWs.
• Beam-only-connected web plates mitigate web plate damage in SC-SPSWs.
• Beam-only web plate SC-SPSWs used less steel than fully-connected web plate designs.
• SC-SPSWs with beam-only web plates meet all proposed seismic performance objectives.

In the self-centering steel plate shear wall (SC-SPSW) system, thin steel web plates provide the primary lateral strength and energy dissipation, while post-tensioned connections in the boundary frame provide recentering and mitigate frame damage. In most steel plate shear walls (SPSWs), web plates are connected to the beams and columns; however, connecting the web plates to the beams only has been proposed as a means of reducing boundary frame demands and mitigating web plate damage. This paper investigates the impact of using beam-only-connected web plates on SC-SPSW design and seismic performance. Expressions for determining beam demands for purposes of design are developed. Three- and nine-story prototype SC-SPSWs are designed using beam-only-connected web plates and are compared with equivalent SC-SPSWs designs with fully-connected web plates. To evaluate the potential for material savings, the weight of steel required for each system is compared. The seismic performance of the SC-SPSWs with beam-only-connected and fully-connected web plates is compared using results of nonlinear response history analyses in which relatively simple, yet conservative, modeling techniques are employed.