Partial interaction theory to analyze composite (steel–concrete) shear wall systems under pure out-of-plane loadings

• Develop a closed form solution for analysis of steel-concrete (SC) shear walls.
• FE model for analysis of steel-concrete shear walls under out-of-plane loads.
• Evaluate the accuracy of theoretical formulations for analysis of SC walls.
• Investigate effect of concrete in limiting out-of-plane deformations of SC walls.

This paper presents a closed form solution for the analysis and design of composite steel concrete (SC) shear wall systems subjected to pure out-of-plane loads with partial interaction theory. This method takes into account the flexibility of connection between plate and concrete. SC walls under out-of-plane loads can be considered a slab under distributed loads; therefore, for obtaining the formulation of these systems, a strip beam-slab is considered. These walls are subjected to soil pressure when used in deep excavations water hydraulic pressure when used as marine structures, and ice moving pressure when used in offshore structures etc. For providing the interaction between steel and concrete, shear connectors and, for calculating the out-of-plane loadings, classic methods are utilized. The existence of concrete in composite shear walls not only prevents the steel plate from buckling, but also plays an important role in out-of-plane resistance. To investigate the effect of concrete on the behavior of these SC shear walls, two cases are considered in this study: shear walls with and without concrete. To validate the accuracy of the proposed method, a number of shear walls were modeled and analyzed by ABAQUS software and compared with the results from theoretical formulations. Results indicate that the proposed interaction theory is well capable of predicting the deformation and stress distribution of the composite shear walls.