Design and analysis of slotted shear walls equipped with energy dissipating shear connectors

Shear walls have high stiffness and strength; however, they lack energy dissipation and repairability. In this study, an innovative slotted shear wall featuring vertical slots and steel energy dissipation connectors was developed. The ductility and energy dissipation of the shear wall were improved, while sufficient bearing capacity and structural stiffness were retained. Furthermore, the slotted shear wall does not support vertical forces, and thus it does not have to be arranged continuously along the height of the structure, leading to a much free arrangement of the shear wall. A frame-slotted shear wall structure that combines the conventional frame structure and the innovative shear wall was developed. To investigate the ductility and hysteretic behavior of the slotted shear wall, finite element models of two walls with different steel connectors were built, and pushover and quasi-static analyses were conducted. Numerical analysis results indicated that the deformability and energy dissipation were guaranteed only if the steel connectors yielded before plastic hinges in the wall limbs were formed. Finally, a modified D-value method was proposed to estimate the bearing capacity and stiffness of the slotted shear wall. In this method, the wall limbs are analogous to columns and the connectors are analogous to beams. Results obtained from the modified D-value method were compared with those obtained from the finite element analysis. It was found that the internal force and stiffness estimated with the modified D-value method agreed well with those obtained from the finite element analysis.