Design of steel plate concrete (SC) walls with cross-ties under out-of-plane forces

Abstract

This study proposes design guidelines to predict the capacity of Steel Plate – Concrete (SC) walls under out-of-plane forces. It includes a detailed explanation of SC walls behavior and failure mechanisms. An SC wall under out-of-plane forces could reach a desired failure mechanism such as flexure or shear only if the composite action between the steel plate and concrete is sufficient. Otherwise, debonding, the failure mechanism associated with composite action, could govern. A design equation is derived to predict the composite action capacity accurately. The design guidelines and the proposed equation are validated using an experimental database of eight SC beams under varying a/d ratios, longitudinal reinforcement ratio, transverse reinforcement ratio, and concrete strength. A systematic comparison between test results and proposed design guidelines is conducted showing that the proposed method offers high accuracy and safety over existing methods. The findings clarify the interaction between flexural, shear and composite capacities and provide practical design methods for both conventional SC composite walls and steel-Ultra high performance concrete composite walls.