Seismic behavior of steel tube–double steel plate–concrete composite walls: Experimental tests

• A novel composite wall is proposed for use in high-rise building structures.
• Seismic behavior of the composite walls was examined through quasi-static tests.
• Effects of design parameters on seismic performance of the walls were discussed.
• Simplified formulas were proposed for evaluating the wall's flexure strength.

This paper proposes an innovative structural wall, named “the steel tube–double steel plate–concrete composite wall”, which is suited for use in high-rise buildings. The composite wall consists of concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) boundary elements and a double “skin” composite wall web where two steel plates are connected by tie bolts with space between them filled with concrete. The seismic behavior of the composite walls was examined through a series of experiments in which five slender rectangular wall specimens were subjected to axial forces and lateral cyclic loading. The specimens failed in a flexural mode, characterized by local buckling of the steel tubes and plates, fracture of the steel tubes, and concrete crushing at the wall base. The extent of the CFST boundary element was found to significantly affect the deformation and energy dissipation capacities of the walls. The area ratio of steel plates had a minimal effect on the deformation capacity of the slender walls. The addition of circular steel tubes embedded in the CFST boundary elements obviously increased the lateral load-carrying capacity of the walls. When the CFST boundary element's extent was 0.2 times the wall's sectional depth and the test axial force ratio was no more than 0.25, the walls had a yield drift ratio of over 0.005 and an ultimate drift ratio of around 0.03. Simplified formulas used to evaluate the flexure strength of the composite walls were proposed. The evaluated results had good agreement with the test results, with errors no greater than 10%.