Study on the Shear Behaviors and Capacity of Double-Sided Concrete-Encased Composite Steel Plate Shear Walls by Experiment and Finite Element Analysis

Concrete-encased composite plate shear walls (C-PSW/CEs) can realize the in-plane shear yielding of infill steel plate with the buckling restrained from the concrete panel. Concrete panels also additionally resist portions of lateral loading in C-PSW/CEs, whereby the shear stiffness and strength of the C-PSW/CE are improved. However, research on the in-plane behaviors of concrete panels and the interactions between structural elements is limited. In this paper, the mechanical characteristics and the interactions and the shear resistances of C-PSW/CEs with double-sided concrete encasements were studied. First, the effects of concrete thickness on the damage process, steel plate buckling, and shear resistances of C-PSW/CEs under lateral loading were tested. Then, finite element analyses of the internal forces of the horizontal and inclined cross-sections and the shear force-drift ratio responses of C-PSW/CEs were undertaken with the extended finite element method (XFEM) to simulate the cracking behaviors of concrete panels. A shear force-drift ratio model based on mechanics was developed by considering the lateral load resistances of concrete panels and their effects on steel plates in C-PSW/CEs.