In the last few decades, steel plate shear walls have been introduced as primary lateral load resisting elements in several buildings around the world. The system consists of vertical steel infihl plates, one story high and one bay wide connected to the surrounding beams and columns. Experimental testing was conducted on various specimens, under cyclic quasi-static loading. Good energy dissipation and ductility capacities were achieved. In this concept, the post-buckling strength of the none-stiffened thin steel plate shear wall is relied upon for most of the frame shear resistance, similar to the slender web of plate girder. In this paper, a nonlinear finite element model that includes both geometric and material nonlinearity for steel plate shear walls was developed. Another analytical method is presented that is useful for the prediction of cyclic monotonic behavior. The models gave good prediction of the specimen behavior. In order to understanding the behavior of steel plate shear walls, nonlinear time-history analysis and parametric study was done.
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