Experimental and Numerical Study on the Seismic Behavior of Self-Buckling-Restrained Corrugated Steel Plate Walls

Abstract

Corrugated steel plate walls (CSPWs) are extensively utilized as high-performance, lightweight, and ductile lateral load-resisting elements in prefabricated steel structures. However, premature out-of-plane buckling compromises their lateral load-bearing capacity and energy dissipation performance, which poses a critical bottleneck to their widespread engineering application. To address this issue, this study proposes a self-buckling-restrained corrugated steel plate wall (SBR-CSPW), based on the core design principle that the elastoplastic shear buckling load of the corrugated steel plate is not lower than its ultimate shear capacity. Six SBR-CSPW specimens were designed with key variable parameters, namely, steel plate thickness, width, corrugation orientation, corrugation amplitude, and boundary constraint conditions. A series of cyclic quasi-static tests and refined finite-element (FE) simulations were performed to systematically investigate the seismic performance and deformation characteristics of the proposed wall system. Experimental results indicated that all specimens sustained cyclic loading up to an interstory drift ratio of 2% without weld failure or buckling of edge restraint columns. Only the wall panel of Specimen W2 exhibited slight out-of-plane buckling, whereas no significant shear buckling was observed in the wall panels of the other specimens, thereby largely achieving the preset performance objective of self-buckling restraint. The developed refined FE models are in good agreement with the experimental results, with the relative errors of the load-bearing capacity at an interstory drift ratio of 2% mostly limited to within 10%; the models are also capable of accurately capturing the hysteretic response and out-of-plane deformation characteristics of the SBR-CSPWs. This study provides robust experimental evidence and a validated design reference for the engineering application of SBR-CSPWs in prefabricated steel structures in high-seismic-intensity regions.