Experimental Investigation of Using Sandwich Panels as Infill Plate in a Steel Plate Shear Wall

Abstract

A total of five specimens were designed to investigate the cyclic behavior of infill panels made from various materials such as thin-walled steel sheets and corrugated sandwich panels. First, two specimens were prepared to act as shear walls by connecting sandwich panels, which are normally used as architectural partition walls in steel buildings, to a steel frame using appropriate connections. Then, a specimen with a single steel plate was designed. The final specimen was prepared by removing the polyurethane material from inside the sandwich panel and only steel plates were attached to both faces of the frame. This way, it was possible to examine the effect of the polyurethane material inside the sandwich panel and the corrugated steel plate on system behavior. Finally, a bare frame was prepared as a control specimen. For this experimental study, single-story, single-bay steel frames of semi-rigid beam to column connections were prepared with a scale ratio of 1:3. In all specimens, the infill plates were fastened to the frame connection profiles using self-drilling screws and the prepared specimens were compared in terms of their maximum load capacity, initial stiffness, ductility and energy dissipation capacity values under cyclic loading. The experimental and analytical investigations showed that, like steel plate infills, the specimens with sandwich panels also behaved in a ductile manner with relatively lower load and energy dissipation capacity. The results of the computer model analyses were then compared with the experimental results and they were found to be compatible with the analytical results.