SPSW replaceable thin-walled shear panel
Steel-plate shear wall panels consist of a thin steel plate that is bolted to a surrounding strong steel frame (Fig. 5). By placing more such panels vertically along the building height, a shear wall system is composed. The dissipative element of this system is the steel plate that is subjected to high shear and develops tension fields in opposite directions as the seismic forces change sign. The connection and the frame are capacity-designed so that damage concentrates in the steel plate that can be easily removed. The shear panels were developed and experimentally/analytically studied by UPT Timisoara during a national Romanian research project[16].
