Elastic buckling and load-resistant behaviors of double-corrugated-plate shear walls under pure in-plane shear loads

In this paper, a double-corrugated-plate shear wall (DCPSW) is proposed. It consists of two trapezoidally corrugated plates connected with high-strength bolts. It could be utilized in high-rise buildings as an alternative of the ordinary corrugated plate shear wall (CPSW) to resist lateral shear loads resulting from horizontal seismic or wind effects. In this paper, the elastic buckling behavior of DCPSWs subjected to pure in-plane shear loads is of major concern and is firstly investigated. The DCPSWs are equivalent into orthotropic plates, and accordingly, the rigidity constants, including flexural rigidity constants in the orthotropic directions (Dx and Dy) and the torsional rigidity constant (H), are defined and theoretically derived. By comparing the theoretical formulas of the rigidity constants with the results obtained from finite element (FE) eigenvalue buckling analyses, these theoretical formulas are validated to be accurate enough for practical engineering applications. Then, the shear elastic buckling formulas of the DCPSWs are provided by means of FE analyses and numerical fitting technique, and these formulas are validated to be able to conservatively predict the shear elastic buckling loads of DCPSWs with good accuracy. Finally, the shear-resistant behavior of the DCPSWs is investigated via a parametric study of FE models subjected to monotonic shear loads. It is concluded that the normalized aspect ratio could be regarded as a comprehensive design parameter which reflects the ultimate shear resistance of the DCPSW.