Buckling and yielding behavior of unstiffened slender, moderate, and stocky low yield point steel plates

•Plate thicknesses corresponding to concurrent buckling & yielding are predicted.•Use of low yield point steel favorably reduces the limiting plate thickness.•Higher length/height ratio unfavorably results in larger limiting plate thickness.•Buckling loads of moderate plates are accurately predicted by plotting techniques.•Limiting thicknesses of plates in SPSWs are determined theoretically & numerically.

Steel plates may be classified as slender, moderate, and stocky based on their distinctive behavior characterized by geometrical buckling and material yielding. Slender plates undergo elastic buckling first and then yield in the post-buckling stage, while stocky plates yield first and then undergo inelastic buckling. Moderate plates, on the other hand, buckle and yield simultaneously. The development of low yield point (LYP) steel enables the application of steel plates with improved buckling and energy absorption capacities as lateral force-resisting and energy dissipating elements in structures. On this basis, buckling and yielding behavior of LYP steel plates with various support and loading conditions is studied in this paper from the point of view of their application in steel plate shear wall (SPSW) systems. The limiting thicknesses of standalone plates corresponding to concurrent geometrical buckling and material yielding are determined theoretically and verified through detailed numerical simulations. Effects of using LYP steel and plate aspect ratio parameter on the required limiting plate thickness as an effective parameter in seismic design of SPSW systems are investigated as well. In addition to the studies on the performance of plates with two and four restrained edges and also applicability of some extrapolation techniques for predicting the critical buckling load of moderate plates, detailed studies are performed on determination of the limiting plate thickness in code-designed SPSW systems. Based on the findings of this study, some practical recommendations are provided for efficient seismic design of SPSW systems with LYP steel infill plates.