Equivalent constitutive model of steel plate shear wall structures

To accurately and efficiently predict seismic responses of steel plate shear wall structures using simplified strip element models, an improved uniaxial equivalent constitutive model was proposed. Skeleton curves were employed, respectively, to quantify the effect of appreciable cyclic hardening characteristics of different steel materials and to take into account the influence of compressive residual stress. Simplified hysteretic criteria were suggested to capture pinching phenomena, reloading process and unloading process in details. Then, the proposed model was incorporated into the general finite element software ABAQUS as a user defined material (UMAT). Together, the model was validated against a series of typical experimental results. Finally, parametric analyses of the prototypes with a wide range of width-to-thickness ratios and loading patterns were conducted, with focus on the feasibility and applicability of the proposed model. These analyses demonstrated that: the proposed model could better evaluate the hysteretic behavior of steel plate shear wall structures with a wide range of width-to-thickness ratios and different steel materials. Meanwhile, it guarantees both the computational accuracy and efficiency, providing a valuable tool for nonlinear analysis of overall steel plate shear wall structures.