Topology optimization of strut-and-tie models in steel plate shear walls

Abstract

Since 1970, the steel plate shear wall is regarded as the first choice among latest load resisting systems and employed in several important and modern buildings. In the early and during the 1970s, the steel plate shear walls were used in modern buildings in Japan and United States to improve the seismic behavior of structures. It can be concluded from existing researches that the steel plate shear walls have considerable strength and stiffness in comparison with other systems. In order to find the optimum size that minimizes structure’s weight under the applied load and also fulfilling the structural requirements and restrictions optimization is required. In this study, tracing the shear wall elements with the lowest strain energy through using the topology optimization based on finite element method and removing them according to particular mechanism is investigated. This procedure gives us the optimized shape of steel plate shear wall. For this purpose, a steel plate shear wall is modeled in Abaqus to obtain its force-displacement curve and subsequently the force-displacement relationship is acquired using virtual work method and MATLAB programming.