Development of a buckling restrained shear panel damper

• The novel shear panel damper call BRSPD is proposed and the physical test is carried out.
• No stiffener is welded on the energy dissipation plate.
• The gaps between external restraining plates and energy dissipation plate should be no more than 1 mm.
• The formula for the restoring force of the BRSPD has been derived with the help of finite element analysis.
• The stiffness demand of the external restraining plate is derived through the buckling analysis.

Steel shear panel dampers (SPDs) have been widely used in structural seismic design. The low cycle fatigue damage for SPD often occurs close to the welded stiffener, significantly weakening the fatigue performance of the damper. A novel steel shear panel damper called a buckling restrained shear panel damper (BRSPD) is proposed in this paper. A BRSPD has two main parts, an energy dissipation plate and two restraining plates. No stiffener is welded to the energy dissipation plate. The two restraining plates clamp the energy dissipation plate with bolts on both sides to prevent out-of-plane buckling. Quasi-static tests of five specimens were carried out to investigate the performance of the BRSPDs. The test focused on the stiffness and strength of the restraining plates and the gaps between them and the energy dissipation plate. The tests showed that the restraining plates with adequate stiffness and strength can effectively restrain the out-of-plane buckling of the energy dissipation plate. Numerical analysis of the BRSPD was conducted using the general finite element program, ABAQUS, to supplement the test results. A design method for the restraining plates and the bolts is suggested based on the test and analysis results.