Behavior of steel plate shear walls with pre-compression from adjacent frame columns

• The shearing capacity of SPSWs is impaired by pre-compression from frame columns.
• The distribution of axial forces depends on the dimension of SPSWs.
• Pre-compression of same magnitude has varied effect on SPSWs of distinct dimension.
• Axial forces transferred to frame columns from the infill plate in shearing.
• The reduction coefficient of shearing capacity due to pre-compression is proposed.

This paper investigates the behavior of steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) with pre-compression from adjacent frame columns which is produced in the construction process. Firstly, some parameters used in analytical finite element models, such as the stiffness of frame beams and columns and the magnitude of the loads are discussed. Then, numbers of numerical examples are analyzed and show that the influence of pre-compression varies with the dimension of SPSWs. Also, the distribution and transferring of axial forces between frame columns and SPSWs during loading are discussed. Finally, a reduction coefficient of shear-carrying capacity of SPSW due to pre-compression is proposed.