Use of suspension bridges theory for modelingthe steel plate shear walls under out-of-plane loads

This paper presents the new finite element model of steel plate shear wall, SPSWs, systems under out-of-plane loadings using truss elements instead of shell elements. This type of loads is applied from soil pressure in deep excavations, water hydraulic pressure on marine structures, ice moving pressure in offshore structures and etc. The aim of this study is to provide a new modeling using the theory ofsuspension bridges.In the suspension bridges, some vertical cables from one side connected to the deck of the bridge and on the other side are connected to the main cable and transferred the bridge deck weight and other loads to the main cable. Also, main cable transfersthese loads to the supports.The catenary cable elements are employed to model the bars; thus, a number of small elements, formed the bars. When the amounts of the loads are increasing, the suspension bridges theory has good capability to predict the behavior of the walls subjected to out-of-plane loading. In this paper, the steel plate shear wall is equivalent with bars in two directions and modeled by ABAQUS/CAE software. This type of modeling is like as soccer net, that bearing the loads in two directions. The results of finite element models are compared with theoretical relationships and indicated that the results of finite element models are closed to the theoretical relationships. Also, the proposed new model is compared with the shell element modeland shown that thestress distribution and mid span displacement of the specimens are close to each other.

Keywords:

finite element model , steel plate shear wall , out-of-plane loading , suspension bridge , cable ,