| This dissertation presents the results of a comprehensive study of the behavior and strength of steel plate panels infilled in a structural frame as wall panels. Such a frame-wall system has been found to be an effective system in resisting lateral loading due to earthquake or wind. During the Northridge earthquake of January 17, 1994, the Olive View Hospital, one of a few seismic-resistant buildings utilizing this system, showed no sign of structural damage even though it experienced a ground acceleration as high as 0.91g and a floor acceleration of 2.31g (g = the acceleration of gravity).; The frame-wall interaction and, consequently, the behavior of the frame and the wall panels can be significantly affected by the manner in which a frame-wall system is formed. Four possible variations of the girder-to-columns and wall-to-frame connections have been examined for a prototype frame-wall structure. The system which is composed of a partial moment-resistant frame and steel wall panels connected only to girders appears to be a superior system from the point of structural performance and effective use of the panels. In this system, the tension field action can promptly develop in a panel after shear buckling of the panel. Therefore, the strength of the wall panels can be fully utilized. A new concept of damage control design is proposed, making use of the dual characteristics of the frame-wall system.; The behavior of shear panels (frame-panel assemblages) subjected to monotonic shear has been parametrically studied, including the effects of post-buckling deformation and yielding. The results of the study, which includes as its key parameters the width-to-thickness and aspect ratios of panels, are presented. It is shown that the load-deformation relationship of a panel can be characterized by three properties: the post-buckling stiffness, significant yield strength, and post-yield stiffness. A simple procedure is proposed for calculating these properties useful in design.; The behavior of four typical shear panels under cyclic loading was analyzed with ULSAS-GE, which is a finite element package developed specifically for this study. With the analytical results, the hysteretic behavior of the panels has been examined and characterized. An empirical hysteretic model, based on the Masing model, has been developed and implemented in a program package. It is shown that the model can well represent the principal hysteretic characteristics of the shear panels for a large range of deformation. |
