Pseudo-dynamic testing of self-centering steel plate shear walls

The self-centering steel plate shear wall (SC-SPSW) has been developed as an effective lateral load resisting system that is capable of enhanced seismic performance including recentering after design-level earthquakes. Recent large-scale, pseudo-dynamic experimental research has been conducted at the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE) in Taiwan to better understand SC-SPSW behaviour and seismic performance. Pseudo-dynamic tests of two full-scale, two-story SC-SPSW specimens were conducted at NCREE to investigate the system performance in earthquake excitation representing events with 50%, 10%, and 2% probabilities of exceedence in 50 years. This test program was the first full-scale investigation of the SC-SPSW at the system-level and the first to incorporate PT column base details to improve column damage resistance and practical constructability. The specimens were physically identical with the exception of the PT beam-to-column connections: One using commonly-employed flange rocking connections, the other using a new PT connection designed to eliminate frame expansion. This paper will present the SC-SPSW pseudo-dynamic test program and its results.