Effect of stiffeners on behavior of steel plate shear wall with rectangular openings

Steel Plate Shear Walls (SPSWs) with and without stiffeners, due to excellent seismic performance, are considered as a lateral load resisting system. Stiffeners have widely been used in SPSW to improve the buckling behavior of shear panels in steel frames. To attain architectural purpose, adding of rectangular openings in SPSWs is inevitable; therefore, it is essential to investigate on the behavior of SPSWs with rectangular opening. This paper describes the effect of adding stiffeners on the maximum shear load capacity of SPSW with rectangular opening. Specimens with and without stiffeners are modeled and analyzed using Finite Element (FE) method. In the investigated specimens, the variables parameters are thickness, yield strength and opening area of SPSW. Results demonstrated that stiffeners, which are located on surrounding the opening, have more effect one the load capacity than stiffeners on the plate.