Shear performance of four-corner connected shear wall considering plate-frame connection ratio

The four-corner connection is an innovative way to connect the wall plate and frame of the steel plate shear wall (SPSW). Differing from the traditional four-side connected SPSW, this method mitigates the dependence of the wall plate on boundary elements. Through quasi-static cyclic loading tests, a comparison is made between a four-side connected SPSW with a plate-frame connection ratio of 100% and a four-corner connected SPSW with a plate-frame connection ratio of 65%. Subsequently, using finite element (FE) models validated by experiments, the impact of the connection ratio and the flexural stiffness of vertical boundary elements (VBEs) on structural mechanics is explored. Formulas for calculating the shear bearing capacity of the four-corner connected SPSW and the minimum flexural stiffness of VBEs considering the connection ratio are proposed and validated by FE results. The test results indicate that, when the connection ratio decreases to 65%, the ultimate bearing capacity, yield bearing capacity, initial stiffness and cumulative energy dissipation decrease by 32.7%, 28.8%, 27.9% and 35.3%, respectively. Additionally, The FE results demonstrate that decreasing the connection ratio effectively mitigates adverse effects on internal forces and deflection of VBEs.