Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Constructional Steel Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jcsr

Seismic behavior of CFRP-steel composite plate shear wall with

edge reinforcement
Jin-Guang Yu a, b, *, Shi-Qi Zhu a, Xiao-Tian Feng a, c
a
School of Civil Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an 710055, China
b
Collaborative Innovation Center for Assembled Buildings in Western China (XAUAT), Xi’an, China
c
Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In this paper, a CFRP-steel composite plate shear wall structure with the laying method of bolted connection
CFRP-steel composite plate shear wall plate is proposed. A theoretical model of CFRP - steel composite plate shear wall is formulated. The effectiveness
Bolted connection of the design method is verified by the shear experiment of the connection. Subsequently, two 1/3-scale steel
Seismic performance
plate shear wall(SPSW) specimens are tested under a low cyclic load. Compared with the pure SPSW, the ultimate
Design method
Finite element analysis
bearing capacity, stiffness, and energy dissipation capacity of the CFRP-steel composite plate shear wall are
improved by 23%, 7.7%, and 4.2%, respectively. The finite element analysis agrees well with the experiment
curves, and the failure mechanism in the CFRP-steel composite plate shear wall structure can be well understood.
Finally, the effects of different CFRP laying layers, fiber orientation angles and aspect ratios on the performance
of SPSW are compared and analyzed. Increasing CFRP laying layers and aspect ratios will improve the bearing
capacity and energy dissipation capacity, but when the thickness of CFRP is too large, the ductility performance
will be reduced. When the aspect ratio is too large, the stress distribution is not uniform, the angle deflection of
the tension field is more serious, and the performance development is not sufficient. An aspect ratio of 1–1.5 is
recommended to use in practical engineering applications. Increasing the orientation angles between CFRP and
the tension field can improve the ductility and energy dissipation capacity. When there is a multi-layer laying
design, it is recommended to consider multi-orientation angle laying.

1. Introduction
The steel plate shear wall system is one of the rapidly developed
lateral force-resistant systems in middle and high-rise buildings, which
has higher stiffness, lighter weight, and less construction time than the
reinforced concrete shear walls system [1]. The tension field generated
by nonlinear buckling of embedded steel plate in thin plate shear wall
dissipates energy through plastic deformation. Compared to thicker or
stiffened steel plates, thinner steel plates form a tension field at lower
loads. Researches in recent years have also focused on thin steel plate
shear walls, using tension fields to resist lateral force [2–4]. Edge frame
components also need to be properly designed to maintain elasticity and
to fully develop the tension field [5,6]. Xiao et al. [7] studied the
buckling strength and postbuckling capacity of the high-strength steel,
and proposed a new buckling coefficient formula and a new ultimate
shear resistance formula for HSS plate girders. Many researchers found
that the postbuckling capacity is produced by the tension field in the
web panel after the shear local buckling [7–9]. The size and design of
steel plate shear walls are stipulated in Chinese JGJ 99–98, American
Code for Seismic Design of Steel Structure Buildings, and Japanese Code
for Seismic Design of Buildings [10–12].
As the most important energy-consuming component in steel struc­
ture buildings, steel structure frames have developed more structural
forms in recent years. Including self-centering [13] and post-earthquake
repairable frames [14,15]. The emergence of new frame structures has
continuously improved the assembly, repairability, and design flexi­
bility of steel structures. In the steel plate shear wall structure system, as
the first line of defense for seismic fortification [15], the wall plate has
been continuously developed. Unlike structural innovations, researchers
are using carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) to develop composite
shear walls [16]. The life cycle cost calculations for CFRP materials show
that CFRP materials provide a feasible economic solution [17,18].
The CFRP-steel composite plate shear wall improves the complexity
of the overall mechanical properties of the lateral force-resisting

* Corresponding author at: School of Civil Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an 710055, China.
E-mail address: yujinguang@xauat.edu.cn (J.-G. Yu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2023.107816
Received 25 September 2022; Received in revised form 9 January 2023; Accepted 17 January 2023
Available online 26 January 2023
0143-974X/© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Fig. 1. Connection area damage [19,20].

dissipation increase when the direction of the main fiber is consistent

with the direction of the tension field. However, as shown in Fig. 1,
according to the experimental results, it can be found that specimens
F have different degrees of damage at the connection joints, which greatly
affects the mechanical properties of specimens.
For the CFRP-steel composite plate subjected to plane shear, when

Table 1
Basic parameters of the specimens.
Fig. 2. Dimension of the plate. Specimens Type Layer Fiber orientation angles (unilateral)

M22-4C(0) CFRP 4 C(0◦ )*4 + S

structural system and also produces more complex local properties at the M22-4C(45) CFRP 4 C(0◦ ) + C(45◦ ) + C(45◦ ) + C(0◦ ) + S
connection between the embedded wall plate and the edge frame. Ac­ M22-4C(90) CFRP 4 C(0◦ ) + C(90◦ ) + C(45◦ ) + C(0◦ ) + S
cording to the experimental studies of Dakhel [19] and Hatami [20], the S – 0 S

shear strength, initial stiffness, secant stiffness, and cumulative energy Note: “-” means no CFRP is used.

Fig. 3. Failure mode of CFRP layers.

Fig. 4. Details of specimens and loading device.

2
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Fig. 5. Dimension of specimen for material property experiment.

Fig. 8. Stress-strain curve of FRP.

Table 3
Material property of CFRP.
Specimens Ultimate Elastic Ultimate Nominal
strength modulus strain thickness
fu / MPa Ef / MPa εfu / % tf / mm

CFRP-1 4326 272,280 1.51 0.167

CFRP-2 4662 258,680 1.86 0.167
CFRP-3 4474 257,650 1.76 0.167
Average 4487 262,870 1.71 0.167

Fig. 6. Stress-strain curve of steel. capacity, stiffness, and cumulative dissipation energy) of the two steel
plate shear wall are investigated under a low cyclic load, respectively.
The reliability of the finite element model is verified by the experiments.
Table 2 Then, the effects of different CFRP laying layers, fiber orientation angles
Steel material data. and aspect ratios on the performance of steel plate walls are investigated
Specimens Gauged Yield Tensile Elongation Elastic under a variable parameter analysis.
thickness strength strength εsu / % modulus
t / mm fsy / MPa fsu / MPa Es / (N/
mm2)
2. Theoretical model of CFRP - steel composite plate shear wall
5
S3–1 2.66 325 470 48 2.44 × 10
2.1. Critical shear buckling strength of embedded wall plates
S3–2 2.67 315 465 44 1.87 × 105
S3–3 2.66 310 465 46 2.03 × 105
Average 2.66 317 467 46 2.11 £ When a CFRP-steel composite plate is used to bear shear loads, shear
105 buckling occurs before yielding when the plate is thin. In this section,
Note: S3 represents a steel plate with a thickness of 3 mm. the critical shear buckling strength of CFRP-steel composite plate is
derived based on the calculation equation of the four-edges simply
supported thin plate. Accordingly, the critical buckling load and the
corresponding buckling displacement can be obtained. The inclination
angle of the tension field of the steel plate shear wall panel is defined as
α, and the angle between the tension field and the horizontal direction is
expressed as θ, which can be calculated according to Eqs. (1) and (2)
[21],

Fig. 7. Dimension of specimen for material property experiment.

θ = 90 − α (1)

1 + 2Abtc
the fiber direction is consistent with the direction of the tension field of tan4 α = ( ) (2)
the embedded steel plate, the brittle shear failure occurs at the bolt joint
d3
2 + td A1b + 360I cb

due to the limitation of the unidirectional performance of the CFRP

material. In this paper, a CFRP-steel composite plate shear wall structure
is proposed. By increasing the number of CFRP laying layers at the
connection, and reasonably designing the fiber orientation angles, the
fiber laid at ±45◦ and 90◦ are increased, and the bolt connection be­
tween the embedded steel plate and frame is used to improve the per­
formance. The mechanical behaviors of the bolt connection are studied
by the axial tensile test. The mechanical behaviors (lateral bearing
where b, d, and t are the width, height, and thickness of the embedded
steel plate, respectively; Ac and Ab are the cross-sectional areas of edge
frame columns and beams, respectively; Ic is the moment of inertia of the
frame column.
According to Eq. (3) [22], critical buckling strength of four-edges
simply supported shear plate can be obtained. Where tst、E、K、υ
respectively refer to the thickness, elastic modulus, shear buckling

3
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Fig. 9. Final failure modes of connections.

coefficient, and Poisson’s ratio of the shear steel plate.

π2 EK (tst )2
τcr = (3)
12(1 − υ2 ) b
⎧ ( )2 ( )
⎪
⎪ b d
⎪
⎪ 5.34 + 4 ≥1
⎪
⎨ d , b
K= ( )2 ( ) (4)
⎪
⎪ b d
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎩ 4 + 5.34 ≤1
d , b

The equivalent elastic modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and thickness of

CFRP-steel composite plate are defined as E⊥eq、υ⊥eq、teq, the thickness
of the i-layer CFRP is tcfrp, i. Then according to Eqs. (5)–(7), the critical
buckling strength of a four-edges simply supported CFRP-steel com­
posite plate is obtained.

π2 E K (t )2
τcr = ( ⊥eq ) eq (5)
12 1 − υ⊥eq 2 b

∑N E⊥cfrp,i
Fig. 10. Load-displacement curves of connections. teq = tst + i=1 E
tcfrp,i (6)
st

∑N
α
i=1 i tcfrp,i E⊥cfrp,i + tst Est
E⊥eq = ∑N (7)
i=1 tcfrp,i + tst

Fcr = τcr bteq (8)

According to Eq. (8), the critical shear buckling load of a four-edges

simply supported CFRP-steel composite plate is obtained, and the cor­
responding shear buckling displacement can be obtained according to
Eq. (9),
π2 E⊥ eq K ( teq )2
τcr 12(1− υ⊥eq 2 ) b
Ucr = d= d (9)
Geq Geq

2.2. Post-buckling bearing capacity of embedded wall plates

When CFRP-steel composite plate is used as the wall plate of steel

Fig. 11. Comparison between theoretical predictions and experimental results.
plate shear wall, under the action of plane shear, the thin plate will
gradually develop plasticity after buckling, and because the material
properties of CFRP are linear elastic in the tensile direction before
reaching the ultimate strain, the elastic modulus is also different from
the steel, so the calculation of shear bearing capacity of the composite
plate is more complicated [23]. In this section, the steel is considered
according to the ideal elastic-plastic constitutive model, the strength­
ening characteristics of steel after yield strength are not considered. It is
assumed that the bond between CFRP and steel is very effective and no

4
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Fig. 12. Prototype structure of the tested specimens.

interface debonding occurs to estimate the post-buckling bearing ca­ ( ) ( )

Fu = Fcr + Kpb Uy − Ucr + Kpy Δ − Uy (18)
pacity of CFRP-steel composite plates.
The bearing capacity of CFRP-steel composite plate after buckling is
defined as Fu. When the shear displacement is Δ in the plane, before the 2.3. Shear wall bearing capacity
steel plate reaches yield strength, the increment of the composite plate
based on the buckling load is Fpb, which can be calculated by Eq. (11), The steel frame is also involved in resisting the horizontal load, so the
shear bearing capacity of the steel frame should also be included in the
Fu = Fcr + Fpb (10) calculation. It is assumed that the frame is rigidly connected, the frame
beams are rigid, and the plastic hinges are distributed at the top and
Fpb = Kpb (Δ − Ucr ) (11) bottom ends of the frame columns. Then the bearing capacity of the steel
∑N ( ) plate shear wall can be calculated by Eq. (19),
1 1 Ecfrp,i
f bt sin2θ
2 y st
+ i=1 2 αi Est fy btcfrp,i sin2θ ⎧
Kpb = (12) ⎨ Fcr + Kf Δ, Δ = Ucr
Uy − Ucr Fu = Fcr + Fpb + Kf Δ, Ucr < Δ ≤ Uy (19)
⎩
Fcr + Fpb + Kpy (Δ − Ucr ) + Kf Δ, Δ > Uy
Ecfrp, i is the elastic modulus of the i-layer CFRP along the main
tensile stress direction, αi is the shear strength transfer coefficient be­ The lateral stiffness Kf of the steel frame can be calculated by Eq.
tween the side of the i-layer CFRP near the central axis and the adjacent (20), where Mf and Ef are the plastic bending moment and elastic
CFRP / steel. In addition, the yield displacement Uy of the wall plate can modulus of the frame column, respectively. λ is the stiffness ratio of the
be obtained by equal strain energy WI and external work WE, the frame beam and column. When the frame beam is considered rigid, the
calculation steps are shown in Eqs. (13)–(16), value is infinite.
( )2 ( )
E 4Mf
fy 2 ∑N αcfrp,i fy
(13)
E
(20)
i st d
WI = bdtst + bdtcfrp,i Kf = ( )
2Est i=1 2E
cfrp,i Mf d2
× 12λ+4
6Ef Ic 12λ+1
( ) ∑ N ( )
1 1 1 1 Ecfrp,i ( EIb )
WE = Uy fy btst sin2θ + Uy fy btcfrp,i sin2θ (14)
2 2 i=1
2 2 αi Est λ = ( EIb c ) (21)
d

WE = WI (15)
3. Shear performance experiment of the bolt hole of CFRP-steel
tst +
∑N Ecfrp,i composite plate
2fy d i=1 2αi 2 Est tcfrp,i
Uy = × ∑N Ecfrp,i (16)
Est sin2θ tst + i=1 αi 2 Est tcfrp,i 3.1. Mechanical properties of bolted connections
If the strengthening of steel is ignored, the increment of bearing
capacity is completely provided by CFRP when the wall plate reaches the For the bolted connection of CFRP-composite plates, the failure
yield load. The secant stiffness Kpy of the composite plate after yielding modes mainly consist of five types: bolt hole extrusion, plate tensile, bolt
can be calculated according to Eq. (17), and the bearing capacity Fu of hole end shear, screw shear, and screw bend. In the bolted connection of
the wall plate after yielding can be calculated according to Eq. (18), the CFRP-composite plate, the orientation angles of CFRP and the pro­
( ) portion of each layer directly determine the ultimate bearing capacity,
∑N Ecfrp,i btcfrp,i (sin2θ)2 ductility, and failure mode of the connection [24]. Similarly, reasonable
Kpy = Cm3 (17)
i=1 4d design of the orientation angles of CFRP and the proportion of each layer
can also optimize the corresponding structural performance of the

5
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Fig. 13. Specimen details and CFRP-steel laminate structure.

Table 4 Table 5
Steel material data. Cost comparison of two specimens.
Specimens Gauged Yield Tensile Ultimate Elastic modulus Specimens Steel Bolts Epoxy CFRP CFRP Total
thickness strength strength strain Es / (N/mm2) adhesive processing
t / mm fsy / fsu / MPa εsu / % waste
MPa
SPSW 42.1 38.6 – – – 80.7
G1.8–1 1.81 325 460 25.82 2.17 × 105 SPSW-CFRP 42.1 38.6 1.6 46.2 5.7 134.2
G1.8–2 1.80 330 460 28.70 2.26 × 105
G1.8–3 1.79 335 460 21.06 2.17 × 105 Note: The cost of each material in the table above is expressed in US dollars.
Average 1.80 330 460 25.19 2.20 £ 105

Note: G1.8 represents a steel plate with a thickness of 1.8 mm.
composite plate and avoid the failure of the CFRP-steel composite plate
shear wall in the connection area. Since high-strength bolts are generally
used in connectors, it is hard to damage the bolts, so the corresponding
damage to the bolts is not considered in this section. At the same time,
this section ignores the influence of friction between plates, deducing
the calculation equation of bearing capacity corresponding to three
kinds of failure modes of bolted connection holes.
The dimension of the perforated plate is shown in Fig. 2. For the pure
steel, the bearing capacity Fes, Fpts and Fss corresponding to the bolt hole
extrusion, plate tensile, and bolt hole end shear can be calculated ac­
cording to the following Eq. (22), and the final bearing capacity of the
steel plate is Fs,

6
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

different from steel, the holes of CFRP-steel composite plate are prone to
occur different types of mixed failure of steel and CFRP layer. The CFRP
layer may have three types of failure: compression failure, shear failure
[25], compression and shear mixed failure [26]. This section mainly
discusses the restraining effect of different CFRP fiber orientation angles
on the shear failure of composite plates. Therefore, the bearing capacity
analysis of CFRP compression failure [27] and CFRP shear failure is
mainly given, as shown in Fig. 3.
⎧
⎪
⎪
⎪
πd0 tσc,u
⎨ Fcl = Fs + 4
⎪ (1)
Ful = min ( ) (23)
⎪
⎪ ∑N ( ) d0
⎪
⎩ Fsl = Fs + 2 j=1 τcfrp,j tcfrp,j e − 2
⎪ (2)
Fig. 14. Loading device.
Among them, Fcl and Fsl are the bearing capacity corresponding to
⎧
⎨ Fes = fc dtst the compression and shear failure of the composite plate, σc, u is the
/ (1)
Fs = min Fpts = (w − d0 ) × tst × fu γe (2) (22) compressive stress of the hole wall of the CFRP layer, τcfrp, j is the shear
⎩
Fss = 2(e − d0 /2) × fv tst (3) strength of the j-layer CFRP parallel to the steel plate in the tensile di­
rection, tcfrp,j is the unidirectional fiber thickness of the j-layer.
Among them, fu is the tensile strength of the steel plate, fc is the
From the above equation derivation, it can be seen that non-0◦ layer
extrusion stress of the hole wall which is equal to 1.26 fu according to the
CFRP in the connection area should be increased to avoid the shear
design code of steel structure; fv is the shear strength of the steel plate
√̅̅̅ failure of the connection. In addition, to ensure that the steel plate shear
which is equal to fu / 3; d is bolt diameter, tst is steel plate thickness, w is wall fully exerts the tension field effect, defining the single row bolt
plate width, d0 is bolt hole diameter, and e is end distance; γe is the stress spacing is d1, the bolt connection bearing capacity must meet the
concentration factor, if the net section is completely plastic, the value following requirements,
can be taken as the yield ratio fu / fy.
For CFRP-steel composite plate, CFRP is an anisotropic material with Fu > d1 tfu (24)
high strength, whose elastic modulus and failure strain is extraordinarily

Fig. 15. Loading protocol.

Fig. 16. Test phenomenon of SPSW.

7
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Fig. 17. Test phenomenon of SPSW-CFRP.

Fig. 18. Hysteretic and skeleton curves of specimens.

total of 12 specimens. The length direction of the specimen is defined as

3.2. Specimen design
As shown in Fig. 4(a), Q235B grade steel and M22 high-strength bolt
of grade 10.9 are used in the test. The size of the embedded steel plate is
220 mm × 100 mm × 3 mm, and the size of the splint is 150 mm × 100
mm × 6 mm. The steel plate is covered with CFRP sheets to form CFRP-
steel composite plates. The steel plate with a thickness of 6 mm is added
on both sides of the specimen, and the aluminum alloy gasket with a
thickness of 2 mm is bonded on the outer side of the specimen clamping
end. To evaluate the shear performance of bolt holes, axial tension ex­
periments are carried out on the connection specimens by using a 100 t
universal testing machine, as shown in Fig. 4(b).
The specimens are divided into 4 groups according to the fiber laying
layers and fiber orientation angles, with 3 specimens in each group, a
0◦ , and the fiber laying methods of ±45◦ and 90◦ are added to consider
the influence of fiber orientation angles on the failure mode of the
connection. The basic parameters of the specimen are shown in Table 1.
3.3. Material of specimen
3.3.1. Steel
Q235B grade hot rolled thin steel plate is used in the experiment. The
specific size is shown in Fig. 5, the stress-strain curve of steel is shown in
Fig. 6, and the material property is shown in Table 2.
3.3.2. Fiber sheet
Details of carbon fiber sheet specimens selected for the experiment

8
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Drift / %
0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6 4.0
0.40 0.40

Bearing capacity promotion / %

Stiffness promotion
0.35 Bearing capacity promotion 0.35
Stiffness promotion / %

0.30 0.30

0.25 0.25

0.20 0.20

0.15 0.15

0.10 0.10

0.05 0.05
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3
0.00 0.00
0.0 7.5 15.0 22.5 30.0 37.5 45.0 52.5 60.0
Displacement / mm
Fig. 19. Stiffness and bearing capacity promotion.

Fig. 21. Stiffness degradation.

layer can improve the sudden drop of bearing capacity when only a
0◦ layer is used, and a 90◦ layer can better transfer the load to a 45◦
layer. In terms of ductility, the 90◦ layer can better improve the ductility
of the connection, which is of great significance to the optimization of
the connection. The optimal laying layer design is the combination of
45◦ and 90◦ layers. Combined with the final failure mode of the exper­
iment and the load-displacement curve of the connection, the CFRP
laying scheme of the bolted connection is the best in specimen M22-4C
(90). For the experimental study of the CFRP-steel composite plate shear
wall in the next section, the reinforced area of bolted connections will
adopt by specimen M22-4C(90).
In this experiment, specimen M22-4C(0) shows typical shear failure.
Because the shear strength value of CFRP material is not measured in the
material test, Eq. (23)(2) is not checked. Specimen M22-4C(90) shows a
typical compression failure, and the M22-4C(45) hole wall of the spec­
imen shows a mixed failure mode. The bearing capacity of the two
groups of specimens M22-4C(90) and M22-4C(45) is calculated by Eq.
(23)(1). The comparison between the theoretical predictions and the
experimental results is shown in Fig. 11. The experimental and theo­
Fig. 20. Energy dissipation. retical errors of M22-4C(90) are 8.74 and-11.84, respectively; and those
of M22-4C(45) group are 4.06, 1.00 and 9.59, respectively. To a certain
extent, Eq. (23)(1) can conservatively predict the bearing capacity of the
are shown in Fig. 7, the stress-strain curve of FRP is shown in Fig. 8, and
bolt hole of CFRP-steel composite plate under compression failure and
the material property is shown in Table 3.
mixed failure conditions.

3.4. Experimental results and discussion 4. Seismic performance experiment of CFRP-steel composite
plate shear wall
Before the test, a straight line is drawn perpendicular to the end of
the specimen at the two clamping ends. After loading, the position of the 4.1. Specimen design
straight line does not change, so there is no slip in the experiment. As
shown in Fig. 9, specimen S occurs steel plate mixed failure (compres­ According to Chinese standards JGJ/T 380–2015 [10], GB
sion and shear failure), specimen M22-4C(0) occurs CFRP shear failure, 50017–2017 [28], and real engineering cases, the parameters for the test
specimen M22-4C(45) occurs mixed failure of CFRP, specimen M22-4C are finally decided. The one-story steel plate shear wall in a 6-story steel
(90) occurs compression failure. With the increase of 45◦ and 90◦ layers, frame steel plate shear wall structure is selected as the prototype
the specimens develop towards compression failure with good ductility, structure, as shown in Fig. 12. Based on the 1/3 geometric similarity
showing the bending of longitudinal fibers and the crushing of the ratio, the dimensions of the structural member satisfying the experi­
matrix. mental conditions are selected. Subsequently, considering the scale
The average load-displacement curves of specimens are shown in ratio, the thickness of the embedded steel plate is reduced to 1.8 mm to
Fig. 10. Increasing 45◦ and 90◦ layers can not only change the failure allow the entire structure to utilize the post-buckling strength of the
mode of nodes but also improve the bearing capacity. However, for the steel plate.
M22-4C(90) specimen, with the increase of the 90◦ layer, the shear As shown in Fig. 13(a), the steel plate shear wall specimen consists of
bearing capacity of the connection decreases to a certain extent, so the an embedded wall plate, a frame column, and a frame beam. According
shear resistance of the 45◦ layer is better than the 90◦ layer. Setting a 45◦ to the research of Xue et al. [29], with the small cost, the plate girder

9
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Fig. 22. Out-of-plane displacement of specimens.

Fig. 23. Combined hardening model.

Table 6
Hashin damage criterion.
Damage mode Damage criterion

Tensile failure in fiber direction (σ1 ≥ 0) (σ )2 ( τ )2

1 12
+ ≥1
Xt S12
)2
Compression failure in fiber direction (σ1 < 0) (σ
1
≥1
Xc
Tensile failure in the direction of the substrate (σ2 ≥ 0) (σ )2 ( τ )2
2 12
+ ≥1
Yt S12
) [( ) ]
Compression failure in the direction of the substrate (σ2 < 0) σ2
( Yc
− 1 +
Yc 2S23
( σ )2 ( τ )2
2 12
+ ≥1
2S23 S12

Note: Xt and Xc are the longitudinal tensile and compressive strength of the
single-layer plate; Yt and Yc are the transverse tensile and compressive strength
of the single-layer plate; S12 and S23 are the longitudinal and transverse shear
strength.
with the rigid end post could perform better resistant property and
failure behavior. So the frame beams and columns are designed as large
sections, which can be approximated as rigid parts. The beam-column
connections are hinged in the structure by pins. The embedded wall
plate and the edge frame members are connected by bolts arranged on
the fishtail plate. The bolt used in the test is the M24 high-strength bolt
of grade 10.9. The curing process of SPSW-CFRP is shown in Fig. 13(b)
refers to Singh’s method [30]. In addition, to improve the shear per­
formances of the connections in the edge region, the CFRP laying layers
Fig. 24. Specimen boundary conditions and loading methods.
are added to the connection area of the fishtail plate, and the laying
scheme is C(0◦ ) + C(90◦ ) + C(45◦ ) + C(0◦ ) + S. The orientation angles of
CFRP reinforced area are shown in Fig. 13(d). The steel material data is
in Table 4, and the cost comparison of the two specimens is in Table 5.
4.2. Loading device
The loading device and specimen structure are shown in Fig. 14.
Horizontal load is provided through a 100 t MTS servo actuator. The
compression beam is acted on both ends of the ground beam to fix the

10
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

connection of the bottom end of the specimen.

4.3. Loading scheme

According to the relevant provisions of SAC (1997) [31], the drift is

used as the control parameter of cyclic loading. The ratio of lateral
displacement to storey height is defined as the drift ratio. The loading
protocol is shown in Fig. 15. The loading process is as follows:

(1) Preparation stage: Before the experiment, the empty frame is

pushed and pulled to 60 mm to eliminate friction and ensure that
the fishplates do not contact each other when loaded to 60 mm
(4% drift).

(2) Horizontal loading stage: at the initial loading stage the drift is
0.1875% with one cycle; at the second loading stage, the drift is
0.375% with six cycles; at the third loading stage, the drift is 0.5%
with six cycles; at the fourth loading stage, the drift is 0.5% with
six cycles; at the fifth loading stage, the drift is 1% with four
Fig. 25. First-order buckling mode of embedded steel plate.
cycles; at the sixth loading stage, the drift is 1.5% with two cycles;
at the seventh loading stage, the drift is 2.0% with two cycles; at
the eighth loading stage, the drift is 3.0% with two cycles; at the
ninth loading stage, the drift is 4.0% with two cycles.

Fig. 26. Load–displacement curves of different mesh sizes.

Fig. 27. Comparison of hysteretic curves between the FEM and the experiment.

11
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Fig. 28. Comparison of skeleton curves between the FEM and the experiment.

Fig. 29. Comparison of cumulative energy dissipation curves between the FEM and the experiment.

Fig. 30. Comparison of stiffness degradation curves between the FEM and the experiment.

12
J.-G. Yu et al.
Fig. 31. Comparison of failure modes between SPSW finite element and experiment.
Fig. 32. Comparison of failure modes between SPSW-CFRP finite element and experiment.
4.4. Experimental results
Specimen SPSW: When 0.1875% drift is pushed to load, the
embedded steel plate has no obvious noise, and the corner of the
embedded steel plate is yielded. When 0.375% drift is pulled to load, the
embedded steel plate forms a more obvious diagonal’X’ tension field,
and the corner creases are obvious. When 1.5% drift is pulled to load, the
upper right corner of the embedded steel plate is torn. When under the
pulling load of 3.0% drift, the lower left corner of the embedded steel
plate is torn. When loading at 4.0% drift, the cracks at the corner of the
specimen continuously extend to the center of the embedded steel plate.
The comparison between the specimen before loading and the final
failure is shown in Fig. 16.
Specimen SPSW-CFRP: When 0.1875% drift is pushed to load, there
is no obvious noise in the embedded steel plate. The bearing capacity
reaches 222.61kN. When the drift is 0.375%, creases and obvious ten­
sion fields occur (Fig. 17(a)). A transverse crack (Fig. 17(b)) appears in
the CFRP at the upper left corner of the embedded steel plate when
under the pulling load of 0.75% drift. When the 1.0% drift is pushed to
13
Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816
load, a long crack along the fiber direction appears in the CFRP of the
embedded steel plate (Fig. 17(c)); Under the pulling load of 1.0% drift, a
small area tripping phenomenon appears in the front side and two cracks
along the fiber direction appear (Fig. 17(d)). When under the pulling
load of 1.5% drift, there are a large number of cracks along the fiber
direction along the tension field of CFRP, and there are transverse cracks
near the center of the main tension field (Fig. 17(e)); When 1.5% drift is
pulled to load, the CFRP in the central part of the plate is basically
stripped, and there is no large area fracture of CFRP (Fig. 17(f)). When
2.0% drift is pushed to load, the front CFRP fractures and the embedded
steel plate is intact without a crease (Fig. 17(g)). The CFRP fracture on
the back of the steel plate is less than the front, and some CFRP is still
involved in the force.
4.5. Hysteresis characteristics and skeleton curves
The overall hysteresis curves of the two specimens are shown in
Fig. 18(a). It can be seen from the figure that the two specimens are in
the elastic stage at the initial stage of loading, the initial stiffness is large,
J.-G. Yu et al.
Fig. 33. Solid model.
Fig. 34. Hysteresis curves.
and the load-displacement relationship is basically linear. As the
embedded steel plate begins to yield, the plastic zone of the specimen
gradually develops and enters the elastic-plastic stage. Due to cyclic
loading, serious reciprocating buckling occurs in the embedded steel
plate. Comparing the loading curves in the same direction, the slope of
the latter curve is gradually smaller than the previous curve, indicating
that the stiffness is deteriorating under cyclic loading.
The skeleton curves of the two specimens are shown in Fig. 18(b). At
the initial stage of loading, the skeleton curve is approximately linear.
The skeleton curves of SPSW and SPSW-CFRP are basically coincident in
the elastic stage. With the loading, the growth rate of the skeleton curve
slows down.
Compared with the specimen SPSW, the specimen SPSW-CFRP has a
higher bearing capacity at the early stage of loading, and the bearing
14
Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816
capacity increases about 23%. When the drift reaches 1.5%, the load of
specimen SPSW continues to increase, while specimen SPSW-CFRP
reaches its peak load. After that, due to the continuous fracture of
CFRP fiber, the bearing capacity of specimen SPSW-CFRP begins to
decrease. When loading to 3% drift, the CFRP basically fractures and
exits from work, and the embedded steel plate continues to bear the load
in form of a tension field. After CFRP exits from work, the skeleton
curves of the two specimens are basically coincident. However, no
obvious damage occurs when the two specimens are finally loaded to 4%
displacement, so the ultimate load does not decrease.
The stiffness improvement and bearing capacity improvement of the
two specimens are shown in Fig. 19. In the first stage (before the drift
reached 0.4%), the early bearing capacity is controlled by the elastic
modulus, and then gradually changes to buckling strength. With the
increase of lateral displacement, the improvement of CFRP gradually
decreases; In the second stage (between 0.4% and 1.5% drift), the
embedded steel plate begins to yield, and more horizontal loads are
borne by CFRP. The effect of CFRP increases rapidly until the CFRP
begins to fracture along the main tension field; In the third stage (be­
tween 1.5% and 3% drift), the effect of CFRP reduces due to the CFRP
fibers gradually exiting from work. After all the CFRP exits from work,
the lateral stiffness and lateral bearing capacity of SPSW-CFRP are
basically close to SPSW.
4.6. Energy dissipation capacity and stiffness degradation
The energy dissipation of each loading stage of the two specimens is
shown in Fig. 20. The figure shows that with the increase of lateral
displacement, the energy consumption of the two specimens increases
continuously. At the end of the experiment, when the drift is 4%, the
energy dissipation of specimen SPSW is 35.51 kJ, while specimen SPSW-
CFRP is 37.02 kJ, which is 4.2% higher than specimen SPSW. It shows
that using CFRP to reinforce the embedded steel plate can improve the
energy dissipation capacity. At this time, the structure has not been
completely damaged, indicating that the steel plate shear wall structures
has good energy dissipation capacity.
The stiffness degradation curve of the specimen is shown in Fig. 21.
The secant stiffness is expressed by Ki and calculated by Eq. (25),
| + Pi | + | − Pi |
Ki = (25)
| + Δi | + | − Δi |
±Pi is the peak load of the push and pull direction for the ith cyclic
loading of the structure; ±Δi is the displacement corresponding to the
peak load of the push and pull direction for the ith cyclic loading of the
structure.
It can be seen from Fig. 21 that in the elastic stage, the stiffness of the
specimen degenerates rapidly. With the increase of lateral displacement,
the bearing mode of the specimen changes from in-plane shear buckling
bearing to ‘tension field’ bearing, and when the specimen enters the
elastic-plastic stage, the rate of stiffness degradation decreases. With the
tension field of the embedded steel plate fully developing, the stiffness of
the specimen decreases and gradually becomes gentle.
The initial stiffness of specimen SPSW is 72.4kN/mm, and that of
specimen SPSW-CFRP is 78.0kN/mm, which is 7.7% higher than spec­
imen SPSW, indicating that the CFRP could effectively enhance the
initial stiffness of the structure. Before the fracture of CFRP, the stiffness
of SPSW-CFRP is larger than that of SPSW, and both have the same
stiffness degradation trend, indicating that the laying of CFRP increases
the overall secant stiffness of the pure steel plate. Finally, the stiffness of
specimens SPSW and SPSW-CFRP stabilize at 7.49kN/mm and 7.38kN/
mm, respectively.
4.7. Out-of-plane deformation
The out-of-plane displacement of the two specimens is shown in
Fig. 22. When the drift reaches 2%, the out-of-plane displacement of
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Fig. 35. Fiber tensile damage.

Fig. 36. Von Mises stress distribution of instances.

plate shear wall in each lateral displacement stage of the loading pro­
Table 7 cess, indicating that the laying of CFRP helps to constrain the out-of-
Model parameter. plane deformation of embedded steel plate.
Specimens Fiber laying Fiber orientation angle (to Strength ratio of fiber
layers tension field) to steel plate 5. Finite element model (FEM) for the specimens
fCFRP,u Σt0◦
(γ0◦ = )
fs,y ts
CFRP-1C
The force transmission mechanism of CFRP-steel composite steel
1 0◦ 0.86 plate shear wall structure is further investigated by using the ABAQUS
CFRP-2C 2 0◦ 1.72
finite element analysis model.
CFRP-4C 4 0◦ 3.44

Note: γ0◦ is the strength ratio of 0◦ fiber to steel plate; fCFRP, u is the tensile
strength of CFRP; Σt0◦ is the total thickness of 0◦ CFRP; fs, y is the tensile strength
of embedded steel plate; ts is the thickness of the embedded steel plate.
specimen SPSW is 85.51 mm, while that of specimen SPSW-CFRP is only
51.81 mm, which is only 60.6% of the specimen SPSW. When the drift
gradually unloads from 2% to zero displacement point, the residual out-
of-plane deformation of specimen SPSW is 85.52 mm, while that of
specimen SPSW-CFRP is only 48.15 mm, which is only 56.3% of the
specimen SPSW. After that, the out-of-plane displacement of specimen
SPSW-CFRP further increases because CFRP exits from work.
From the overall trend, the out-of-plane displacement of CFRP-steel
composite plate shear wall structure is far less than traditional thin steel
5.1. FEM establishment
5.1.1. Material constitutive model
According to the constitutive model proposed by Chaboche [32],
steel shows the characteristics of mixed strengthening under cyclic
loading, including the strengthening characteristics of isotropic
strengthening and kinematic strengthening, as shown in Fig. 23. By
inputting the relevant parameters in the Combined module and Cycle
Hardening sub-item of the plastic options in the ABAQUS material
attribute plate, the corresponding isotropic and kinematic strengthening
characteristics of the steel are given to simulate the mixed strengthening
characteristics of the steel under reciprocating horizontal loads. These
parameters are defined in the ABAQUS user manual [33].

15
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Drift / % Drift / %
-4.8 -4.0 -3.2 -2.4 -1.6 -0.8 0.0 0.8 1.6 2.4 3.2 4.0 4.8 -4.8 -4.0 -3.2 -2.4 -1.6 -0.8 0.0 0.8 1.6 2.4 3.2 4.0 4.8
1000 1000

800 800

600 600

Force / kN
Force / kN

400 400

200 200

0 0

-200 -200

-400 -400
CFRP-1C CFRP-1C
-600 -600 CFRP-2C
CFRP-2C
-800 CFRP-4C -800 CFRP-4C

-1000 -1000
-72 -60 -48 -36 -24 -12 0 12 24 36 48 60 72 -72 -60 -48 -36 -24 -12 0 12 24 36 48 60 72
Displacement / mm Displacement / mm
(a) Hysteretic curves (b) Skeleton curves
Drift / % Drift / %
0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6 4.0 4.4 4.8 0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6 4.0 4.4 4.8
50 180

45 160

Stiffness / kN/mm
40 140
Energy / kJ

35
120
30
100
25
80
20
60
15 CFRP-1C
CFRP-1C 40 CFRP-2C
10 CFRP-2C CFRP-4C
5 CFRP-4C 20

0 0
6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72
Displacement / mm Displacement / mm
(c) Energy dissipation curves (d) Stiffness degradation curves
Fig. 37. Curve comparison of composite steel plate shear wall model with different fiber laying layers.

The size of the yield surface σ0 is defined in the corresponding Cycle Hardening of ABAQUS, the σ 0-εp relationship conforming to the
isotropic hardening model, and σ0i is expressed as the yield surface stress isotropic strengthening characteristics can be obtained.
εpi of the ith cycle. Its value is related to the equivalent plastic strain, and The back stress αk is defined in the kinematic hardening model, and
σ 0i and can be defined as, its expression is:
σti + σci σti − σci Ckin,k
σ0i = σti − = (26) αk = (1 − e− γk εp
) + αk,1 e− γk εp
(30)
2 2 γk
Ckin,k
1 In Eq. (30), Ckin, k and γ k are calibrated according to the test, is the
εpi = (4i − 3)Δεp (27) γk
2 maximum change value of back stress; εp is the equivalent plastic strain,
which is defined as,
σti
Δεp = Δε − 2 (28) σi
E εpi = εi − − ε0p (31)
⃒ E
( )
σ0 = σ⃒0 + Q 1 − e− biso εp
(29) ∑N
αi = αk (32)
In the formula, and σti σci
are the maximum tensile stress and the i=1

maximum compressive stress, respectively; Δεp is the range of plastic

strain, σ|0 represents the stress when the equivalent plastic strain is zero,
which is equal to the yield stress. Q∞ is the maximum variation value of
the yield surface; biso is the ratio of yield surface which is changing with
the increase of plastic strain.
The corresponding parameters can be obtained by data fitting with
Eq. (29). By inputting these three parameters in the material module
αi = σ i − σ s (33)
where εpi = 0, ε0p is the plastic strain corresponding to σ = 0. Eq. (32) is
used to consider the large change of the curve shape in different strain
regions, and the back stress value corresponding to the data points is
obtained by Eq. (33). The parameters Ckin, k and γkare fitted by (Ckin,
k, αi).

16
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Fig. 38. Failure comparison of composite steel plate shear wall model with different laying layers.

and the linear reduced thin shell element (S4R) is selected for the
Table 8 embedded steel plate and CFRP to avoid shear self-locking. The bottom
Model parameter. of the model is completely fixed. The out-of-plane translational freedom
Specimens Fiber Fiber orientation angles Strength ratio of fiber to is constrained to prevent the instability of the structure. The out-of-plane
laying (to tension field) steel plate coupling reference points of the beam and column ends are established
layers fCFRP,u Σt0◦
(γ0◦ = , γ45◦ = respectively, and then restrict all translational and rotational degrees of
fs,y ts
sin45◦ ff,u Σt45◦ freedom.
)
fs,y ts To improve the efficiency of finite element simulation and simplify
CFRP-4C-(0)
4 C(0◦ )*4 + S 3.44
the complicated connection contact, the embedded steel plate is divided
CFRP-4C- 4 C(0◦ ) + C(45◦ ) + C 2.93 into the compression plate connection area, and the area is connected
(45/0) (45◦ ) + C(0◦ ) + S with the frame beam and column by the Tie constraint in the ABAQUS
CFRP-4C- 4 C(45◦ ) + C(45◦ ) + C 2.42 interaction module to replace bolt connection. Since CFRP and the
(45) (45◦ ) + C(45◦ ) + S
embedded steel plate have coordinated deformation and are bonded
Note: γ45◦ is the strength ratio of 45◦ fiber to steel plate; Σt45◦ is the total well without a large number of CFRP, it is assumed that there is an
thickness of 45◦ CFRP. effective bonding between the embedded steel plate and the CFRP
laminates, and Tie constraint is used to simulate the bonding effect. And
In the formula, σ s expresses the average value of the first data point the CFRP reinforcement layer is added to the compression plate
and the last data point, that is, connection area by using the method of bolted connection specimen
M22-4C(90). The hinge point at the upper left corner of the beam and
(σ1 + σ n )
σs = (34) column is used as the horizontal loading point. The FEM loading system
2
is the same as the experiment, and the damage accumulation is not
The material parameters of the embedded steel plate are determined considered. Each loading stage is loaded only once. The boundary
according to the material experiment results, and the combined conditions and loading method of the model are shown in Fig. 24.
strengthening model [34] based on Professor Shi’s material data is Since the embedded steel plate inevitably has initial defects, certain
selected with Poisson’s ratio of 0.3. A more convenient and simple linear initial geometric defects are applied to the numerical model. According
strengthening model is adopted for the frame beam-column and the to the relevant provisions, 1/1000 of the longer edge of the embedded
fishtail plate, strengthening modulus Et = 0.01E. E is the elastic modulus steel plate can be taken as the initial geometric defects. In this paper, the
of the steel. Frame beam-column and fishplate are made of Q355 steel, longer edge of the embedded steel plate is 1190 mm [36]. The first-order
so the yield strength is 355 MPa, the tensile strength is 470 MPa, and the modal of the structure obtained by buckle buckling analysis is applied to
Poisson’s ratio is 0.3. the steel plate shear wall structure as the initial geometric defect, as
In this paper, the two-dimensional Hashin failure criterion [35] is shown in Fig. 25.
used to predict the failure of composite materials. The two-dimensional
Hashin failure criterion failure expression is shown in Table 6. 5.1.3. Mesh sensibility analysis
The SPSW-CFRP model is subjected to a single push analysis to
5.1.2. Boundary conditions and loading consider the influence of the embedded steel plate and the central CFRP
In FEM, beams and columns are modeled by beam elements (B31), mesh size on the bearing capacity of the steel plate shear wall structure.

17
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Drift / % Drift / %
-4.8 -4.0 -3.2 -2.4 -1.6 -0.8 0.0 0.8 1.6 2.4 3.2 4.0 4.8 -4.8 -4.0 -3.2 -2.4 -1.6 -0.8 0.0 0.8 1.6 2.4 3.2 4.0 4.8
1000 1000
800 800
600 600
Force / kN

Force / kN
400 400
200 200
0 0
-200 -200
-400 -400
-600 CFRP-4C-(0) -600 CFRP-4C-(0)
CFRP-4C-(45/0) CFRP-4C-(45/0)
-800 -800 CFRP-4C-(45)
CFRP-4C-(45)
-1000 -1000
-72 -60 -48 -36 -24 -12 0 12 24 36 48 60 72 -72 -60 -48 -36 -24 -12 0 12 24 36 48 60 72
Displacement / mm Displacement / mm
(a) Hysteretic curves (b) Skeleton curves
Drift / % Drift / %
0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6 4.0 4.4 4.8 0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6 4.0 4.4 4.8
110 180

100 160

Stiffness / kN/mm
90
140
Energy / kJ

80
120
70
60 100

50 80
40 60
CFRP-4C-(0)
30
CFRP-4C-(0) 40 CFRP-4C-(45/0)
20 CFRP-4C-(45)
CFRP-4C-(45/0)
20
10 CFRP-4C-(45)
0 0
6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72
Displacement / mm Displacement / mm
(c) Energy dissipation curves (d) Stiffness degradation curves
Fig. 39. Curve comparison of composite steel plate shear wall model with different orientation angles.

The global sizes of the embedded steel plate and the central CFRP mesh
are 10 mm, 15 mm, 20 mm, 25 mm and 30 mm respectively. As shown in
Fig. 26, it can be seen that the steel plate shear wall structure models
with different mesh sizes have similar load-displacement curves, indi­
cating that the bearing capacity of the finite element is not sensitive to
the mesh size. After the calculation, the results show that the iteration
error for the finite element model with the mesh size of 25 mm is <5%
[37], so the mesh size of the model in this paper is 25 mm.
5.2. Comparison of hysteresis curves between FEM and experiment
displacement, the lateral bearing capacity of the experiment and finite
element increases and reaches the peak load when loading to 1.5% drift.
After that, the bearing capacity of the experiment specimens begins to
decline due to the continuous fracture of CFRP fibers, and the bearing
capacity of the finite element model also shows a downward trend due to
the local damage of CFRP. However, in the process of finite element
analysis, the failure area distribution of CFRP is smaller than in the
experiment, and the downward trend of lateral bearing capacity is less
than in the experiment. At the end of loading, the lateral bearing ca­
pacity is slightly higher than the experiment results.

Fig. 27 shows the comparison between the hysteretic curves obtained
by the FEM and the experimental results. The slope of the hysteresis
curve simulated by the FEM is larger than the experiment in the elastic
stage. The FEM has large lateral stiffness, and cannot simulate its initial
defects well. The FEM has a slightly lighter pinching phenomenon than
the experiment, and the hysteresis curve is more plumping than the
experiment.
5.3. Comparison of skeleton curves between FEM and experiment
The skeleton curve of the FEM and the experiment is shown in
Fig. 28. Before loading to 1.5% drift, with the increase of lateral
5.4. Comparison of cumulative energy dissipation curves between FEM
and experiment
The cumulative energy dissipation curves of the FEM and the
experiment are shown in Fig. 29. As can be seen from the figure, in each
loading stage of the two specimens, the energy dissipation value ob­
tained by the FEM is greater than that obtained in the experiment.
Compared with the experimental data, the steel constitutive model does
not consider structural damage and fracture, resulting in large reverse
resistance in the simulation, so the cumulative energy dissipation value
is higher than the experiment. Therefore, in the cumulative energy
dissipation curve, the finite element fails to reflect the cumulative

18
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Fig. 40. Failure comparison of composite steel plate shear wall model with different orientation angles.

6. Parametric analysis of CFRP - steel composite plate shear wall

Table 9 structure
Model parameter.
Specimens Height / mm Width / mm Aspect ratio This chapter analyzes the influence of different CFRP laying layers,
CFRP- AR1.0 1190 1190 1.0 CFRP orientation angles, and aspect ratios on the seismic performance of
CFRP- AR1.5 1190 1785 1.5 the structure, hoping to provide reference to CFRP-steel composite plate
CFRP- AR2.0 1190 2380 2.0 shear wall structure.
CFRP- AR2.5 1190 2975 2.5

6.1. Validation of parametric analysis simplified model

energy dissipation capacity of the experiment well.
5.5. Comparison of stiffness degradation curves between FEM and
experiment
The stiffness degradation curves of the FEM and the experiment are
shown in Fig. 30. The initial stiffness obtained by the experiment is
smaller than that obtained by FEM simulation, which is related to the
initial defects in the experiment. After that, the two curves have the
same development trend. In general, the stiffness degradation curves
obtained by FMA are in good agreement with the experimental results,
indicating that the FEA results can reflect the true stiffness performance
of the experiment.
5.6. Comparative analysis of failure modes
The proposed FEM is applied to test bolted connections to verify the
validity of the parametric analysis simplified model. A reasonable solid
FEM is established, and the geometric size of the model is consistent
with that of the test. The finite element model is shown in Fig. 33, and
the hysteresis curves of the simplified model, solid model and the test
are shown in Fig. 34. The fiber tensile damage of CFRP is shown in
Fig. 35. The Von Mises stress distribution of instances is shown in
Fig. 36.
6.2. Influence of CFRP laying layers on CFRP - steel composite plate shear
wall
To analyze the influence of different CFRP laying layers on the finite
element analysis, keeping the fiber orientation angle of the tension field
unchanged, changing the number of CFRP laying layers in the FEM of
CFRP-composite shear wall. The model parameters are shown in Table 7.

The overall failure comparison between the finite element model and
the experiment specimen is shown in Figs. 31 and 32. Fig. 31 shows that
the ultimate failure mode of SPSW in finite element keeps good con­
sistency with the experiment, and the finite element analysis can reflect
the real tension field and failure characteristics of the experiment
specimen. Fig. 32 shows that the failure area distribution of CFRP in the
finite element is slightly smaller than those of the experiment. The final
failure mode of the finite element fiber is consistent with the experi­
ment, indicating that the progressive failure analysis method can accu­
rately predict the failure of the composite material.
6.2.1. Comparison of seismic performance
The hysteresis, skeleton, energy dissipation, and stiffness degrada­
tion curves of different CFRP laying layers obtained by finite element
analysis are shown in Fig. 37. Increasing the number of CFRP laying
layers will further pinch the hysteresis curve of the composite structure,
this may be due to the increase of the number of CFRP layers increases
the load sharing rate, the tension field of the embedded steel plate is not
fully expanded; the increase of CFRP laying layers will significantly
improve the bearing capacity of the composite structure. The bearing
capacity of CFRP-2C and CFRP-4C is 20.26% and 47.48% higher than

19
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Drift/ % Drift / %
-4.8 -4.0 -3.2 -2.4 -1.6 -0.8 0.0 0.8 1.6 2.4 3.2 4.0 4.8 -4.8 -4.0 -3.2 -2.4 -1.6 -0.8 0.0 0.8 1.6 2.4 3.2 4.0 4.8
1200 1200
1000 1000
800 800
600 600
400 400
Force / kN

Force / kN
200 200
0 0
-200 -200
-400 -400
CFRP-AR1.0 CFRP-AR1.0
-600 -600
CFRP-AR1.5 CFRP-AR1.5
-800 CFRP-AR2.0 -800 CFRP-AR2.0
-1000 CFRP-AR2.5 -1000 CFRP-AR2.5
-1200 -1200
-72 -60 -48 -36 -24 -12 0 12 24 36 48 60 72 -72 -60 -48 -36 -24 -12 0 12 24 36 48 60 72
Displacement / mm Displacement / mm
(a) Hysteretic curves (b) Skeleton curves
Drift / % Drift / %
0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6 4.0 4.4 4.8 0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6 4.0 4.4 4.8
300 200
280
180
260
240 160

Stiffness / kN/mm
220
140
Energy / kJ

200
180 120
160
100
140
120 80 CFRP-AR1.0
100 CFRP-AR1.5
CFRP-AR1.0 60
80 CFRP-AR2.0
60 CFRP-AR1.5 40 CFRP-AR2.5
40 CFRP-AR2.0
CFRP-AR2.5 20
20
0 0
0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72
Displacement / mm Displacement / mm
(c) Energy dissipation curves (d) Stiffness degradation curves

Fig. 41. Curve comparison of composite steel plate shear wall model with different aspect ratios.

6.2.2. Comparison of failure modes

Table 10
The final failure of each model is shown in Fig. 38. Compared with
Comparison of the bearing capacity of structural members.
the CFRP-1C model, when the CFRP-2C and CFRP-4C models are loaded
Specimens Ultimate load Improvement level Relative improvement level to 4% drift, the final damage development and failure area of CFRP
/ kN /% /%
laminates are mainly distributed in the main tensile zone and the corner
CFRP- AR1.0 526.77 – – area. The bearing capacity of CFRP is also increasing with the increase of
CFRP- AR1.5 785.47 49.11 49.11 the number of CFRP laying layers, making it more difficult for CFRP to
CFRP- AR2.0 959.15 82.08 32.97
CFRP- AR2.5 1182.22 124.43 42.35
damage and fail in the non-main tensile zone area. However, the stress
development of embedded steel plates in CFRP-1C, CFRP-2C, and CFRP-
4C models is similar, which is mainly distributed in four corners and the
the CFRP-1C model, respectively. Increasing CFRP laying layers has a main tensile zone of wall plates. The stress in other regions is small, and
certain improvement on the energy dissipation capacity of the structure. the material properties of embedded steel plates cannot be fully
Compared with CFRP-1C, the bearing capacity of the CFRP-2C model is developed.
higher, but the cumulative dissipation energy is lower; the pinching
degree of the CFRP-4C model is similar to the CFRP-2C model, but the
maximum dissipation energy is increased by 7.58%. Increasing CFRP 6.3. Influence of CFRP orientation angle on CFRP - steel composite plate
laying layers will improve the initial stiffness of the structure. The initial shear wall
stiffness of CFRP-2C and CFRP-4C is 13.44% and 36.94% higher than the
CFRP-1C model, respectively. The stiffness degradation rate of the To analyze the influence of different CFRP orientation angles on the
structure is gradually decreasing with the increase of lateral displace­ finite element analysis, keeping the fiber laying layers unchanged,
ment. The more the number of CFRP laying layers is, the faster the changing the CFRP orientation angles in the FEM of CFRP-composite
stiffness degradation rate is. Finally, the stiffness of each model is stable shear wall. The model parameters are shown in Table 8.
at 7.80, 7.86, and 8.04kN/mm when the drift reaches 4%. When the
strength ratio of fiber to steel plate is above or equal to 3.44, the ductility 6.3.1. Comparison of seismic performance
of the structure is poor; when the strength ratio of fiber to steel plate is The hysteresis, skeleton, energy dissipation, and stiffness degrada­
between 0.86 and 1.72, the structure has a better performance. tion curves of different fiber orientation angles obtained by finite
element analysis are shown in Fig. 39. Increasing the orientation angles

20
J.-G. Yu et al. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816

Fig. 42. Von Mises stress distribution comparison of composite steel plate shear wall model with different aspect ratios.

Fig. 43. Stress traces comparison of composite steel plate shear wall model with different aspect ratios.

of CFRP and tension field will make the hysteresis curve of the composite
structure more plumping. The change of CFRP orientation angle reduces
the number of fibers along the tension field, resulting in a decrease in the
bearing capacity and initial stiffness of the composite structure. The
bearing capacity of CFRP-4C-(45/0) and CFRP-4C-(45) is 9.6% and
33.58% lower than CFRP-4C-(0), respectively. The increase in the
orientation angle of CFRP and tension field has a greater improvement
on the energy dissipation capacity of the structure, and the maximum
dissipation energy of CFRP-4C-(45/0) and CFRP-4C-(45) model is
13.73% and 119.5% higher than CFRP-4C-(0) model, respectively.
Increasing the orientation angles of CFRP and tension field will reduce
the initial stiffness of the composite structure. The initial stiffness of
CFRP-4C-(45/0) and CFRP-4C-(45) is 3.97% and 17.35% lower than
CFRP-4C− (0) model, respectively. The stiffness of each model is stabi­
lized at 8.04, 8.10, and 9.10kN/mm when the drift reaches 4%.
6.3.2. Comparison of failure modes
The final failure of each model obtained by finite element analysis is

21
J.-G. Yu et al.
shown in Fig. 40. Compared with the CFRP-4C-(0) model, when the
CFRP-4C-(45/0) model is loaded to 4% drift, the ultimate damage
development and failure area of CFRP laminates are annularly distrib­
uted near the center of the wall. In CFRP-4C-(45) model, the fiber
strength fails to play, and only part of the fiber failure occurs at the four
corners. The stress development of the embedded steel plate in the
CFRP-4C-(0) and CFRP-4C-(45/0) models is similar, mainly distributed
in the four corners and the main tensile zone of the wall plate. The stress
of the other regions is small, and the material properties of the
embedded steel plate are not fully developed. However, the stress of the
embedded steel plate in the CFRP-4C-(45) model is transmitted to the
two sides of the tensile zone, which helps the embedded steel plate to be
more uniform and better play the material properties.
6.4. Influence of different aspect ratios on CFRP - steel composite plate
shear wall
To analyze the influence of different aspect ratios on the performance
of CFRP-steel composite plate shear wall, the width of CFRP-composite
plate shear wall varied under a constant height of the embedded steel
plate in the FEA. The angle between the CFRP and the horizontal di­
rection is 45◦ , and one layer of CFRP is applied. The details of param­
eters in the FEM are shown in Table 9. The structures with an aspect
ratio <1.0 usually exhibit poor ductility, the angle of the tension field
and horizontal direction are very large, and some composite materials
do not directly participate in shear resistance, resulting in low economic
practicality, and generally need to set transverse brace [38]. So there is
no variable parameter analysis with an aspect ratio that is <1.0.
6.4.1. Comparison of seismic performance
The hysteresis, skeleton, energy dissipation, and stiffness degrada­
tion curves of different aspect ratios obtained by finite element analysis
are shown in Fig. 41. The increase of aspect ratios will significantly
improve the bearing capacity, energy dissipation and stiffness of the
composite structure. The comparison of the bearing capacity of struc­
tural members is shown in Table 10.
In this group of models, the amount of steel and CFRP used in each
model increases by 50% compared to the previous model, but the ulti­
mate load does not increase as much. Only in CFRP-AR1.5, the relative
improvement level is 49.11%; in CFRP-AR2.0 and CFRP-AR2.5, the
tension field is not fully developed and the strength of the embedded
steel plate is not fully utilized. Therefore, this CFRP - steel composite
plate shear wall with an aspect ratio of 1–1.5 is recommended to use in
practical engineering applications.
6.4.2. Comparison of failure modes
The Von Mises stress distribution and stress traces are shown in
Figs. 42 and 43. It can be seen from the figure that the angle and number
of tension fields change with the aspect ratio. In CFRP- AR1.0, the angle
between the tension field and the horizontal direction is 45◦ , the central
peak stress is basically distributed in two diagonal directions, and the
stress distribution is relatively uniform; the buckling waveform is no
longer in a single-order, and the number of waveforms is messier. In
other models, the central peak stress distribution is more cluttered. In
addition to CFRP- AR1.0, the central tensile stress traces of other models
are particularly disorderly, especially in CFRP- AR2.0 and CFRP- AR2.5,
they are very messy and have different directions. Moreover, the
deflection of stress traces is relatively large. The curve-type deflection of
compressive stress traces appears relatively obvious, especially in
models CFRP- AR1.5 and CFRP- AR2.5, as shown in Fig. 43(b) and
Fig. 43(d).
7. Conclusion
In this paper, the seismic behavior of CFRP-steel composite plate
shear wall structure is analyzed by experiment and FEM, the following
22
Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816
conclusions are obtained:
(1) The laying of CFRP on the perforated steel plate improves the
shear bearing capacity of the bolted connection. The addition of a
90◦ CFRP layer improves the sudden drop of the bearing capacity
of only a 45◦ layer and improves the ductility of the connection.
(2) Using CFRP-steel composite plate instead of pure steel thin wall
plate can significantly improve the bearing capacity of steel plate
shear wall, and the initial stiffness and energy dissipation ca­
pacity are also improved. Compared with SPSW, the ultimate
bearing capacity of SPSW-CFRP increases by 23%, the initial
stiffness increases by 7.7%, and the energy dissipation capacity
increases by 4.2%. The ultimate drift is >1/50, and its ductility
can meet the seismic design requirements of the ‘Code for seismic
design of buildings’. (GB 50011–2010).
(3) CFRP in CFRP-steel composite plate increases the displacement
corresponding to the elastic limit state of the wall plate, and in­
hibits the out-of-plane deformation of the wall plate at the plastic
stage, thereby alleviating the stiffness degradation of the wall
plate before the failure stage.
(4) Under cyclic loading, the lifting effect of CFRP in CFRP-steel
composite plate shear wall structure on the stiffness and
bearing capacity of steel plate is characterized by three stages: in
the elastic stage (before the drift reaches 0.4%), the early bearing
capacity is controlled by the elastic modulus, and then gradually
changes to buckling strength control, and the lifting effect de­
creases with the increase of displacement; in the plastic stage
(between 0.4% and 1.5% drift), CFRP is fully involved in the
loading, and the lifting effect is significantly improved; in the
failure stage (between 1.5% and 3% drift), CFRP gradually exits
from work and the lifting effect disappears.
(5) The increase of CFRP laying layers will significantly improve the
bearing capacity and the energy dissipation capacity of the
structure, but it will accelerate the degradation of structural
stiffness. Increasing the orientation angles between CFRP and the
tension field can improve ductility and energy dissipation ca­
pacity, but it will reduce the initial stiffness and bearing capacity
of the structure. Multi- orientation angle laying method is sug­
gested to be considered when there is a multi-layer laying design.
When the aspect ratio is 1, the stress distribution is relatively
uniform. When the aspect ratio is 2.0 and 2.5, the center tensile
stress traces are very messy and have different directions. When
the aspect ratio is 1.5 and 2.5, the curve-type deflection of the
compressive stress traces is more obvious. In practical engineer­
ing applications, it is recommended to use this CFRP - steel
composite plate shear wall with an aspect ratio of 1–1.5.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Jin-Guang Yu: Funding acquisition, Conceptualization, Investiga­
tion, Supervision. Shi-Qi Zhu: Investigation, Methodology, Writing –
original draft, Writing – review & editing. Xiao-Tian Feng: Writing –
review & editing, Supervision.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
J.-G. Yu et al.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China, Young Scientists (Grant No. 51408461), Natural Science Basic
Research Program of Shaanxi (Grant No. 2022JM-291). The financial
supports are greatly acknowledged. Special thanks are also extended to
the support of the State Key Laboratory at Xi’an University of Archi­
tecture & Technology.
References
[1] A.A. Abolhassan, Seismic Behavior and Design of Steel Plate Shear Walls, Dept. of
Civil and Engineering, University of California, 2002.
[2] Y. Ozcelik, P.M. Clayton, Strip model for steel plate shear walls with beam-
connected web plates, J. Struct. Eng. 136 (2017) 369–379, https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.engstruct.2017.01.051.
[3] L.H. Guo, R. Li, S.M. Zhang, et al., Hysteretic analysis of steel plate shear walls
(SPSWs) and a modified strip model for SPSWs, J. Adv. Struct. Eng. 15 (10) (2012)
1751–1764, https://doi.org/10.1260/1369-4332.15.10.1751.
[4] W.F. Tian, Y.S. Ma, J.W. Berman, Uniform strip model of steel plate shear walls
with different plate thicknesses, J. Struct. Eng. 147 (11) (2021) 04021172, https://
doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0003134.
[5] K. Ikarashi, H. Shimomura, J. Yasunaga, et al., Effect of surrounding frame
members on the buckling behavior of steel shear walls restrained by stiffeners,
Japan Archit. Rev. 3 (4) (2020) 481–495, https://doi.org/10.1002/2475-
8876.12162.
[6] M.M. Alinia, M. Dastfan, The effects of surrounding members on post-buckling
behaviour of thin steel plate shear walls (TSPSW), in: Fourth International
Conference on Advances in Steel Structures 2, 2005, pp. 1427–1432, https://doi.
org/10.1016/B978-008044637-0/50212-2.
[7] Y. Xiao, X.Y. Xue, F.F. Sun, et al., Postbuckling shear capacity of high-strength steel
plate girders, J. Constr. Steel Res. 150 (2018) 475–490, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jcsr.2018.08.032.
[8] Y.B. Kwon, S.W. Ryu, The shear strength of end web panels of plate girders with
tension field action, Thin-Walled Struct. 98 (2016) 578–591, https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.tws.2015.11.002.
[9] F. Zhou, B. Young, H. Lam, Welded aluminum alloy plate girders subjected to shear
force, J. Adv. Steel Constr. 8 (2012) 71–94.
[10] JGJ/T 380-2015, Technical Specification for Steel Plate Shear Walls, China
Architecture & Building Press, Beijing, 2015 (in Chinese).
[11] American Institute of Steel Construction, ANSI/AISC 341–16, Seismic Provisions
for Structural Steel Buildings, no.1, 2016.
[12] Building Guidance Division & Urban Building Division, The Building Standard Law
of Japan, Building Center of Japan, 2004.
[13] Y.X. Zhang, Q.G. Li, W.Z. Huang, et al., Behavior of prefabricated beam-column
connection with short strands in self-centering steel frame, Adv. Steel Constr. 15
(2) (2019) 203–214, https://doi.org/10.18057/IJASC.2019.15.2.10.
[14] A.L. Zhang, Y.X. Wu, Z.Q. Jiang, et al., Seismic behaviour of an earthquake-
resilient prefabricated beam-column cross joint, J. Zhejiang Univ. Sci. A. 18 (2017)
927–941 (in Chinese), https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.A1700358.
[15] A.L. Zhang, P. Qiu, K. Guo, et al., Experimental study of earthquake-resilient end-
plate type prefabricated steel frame mean-column joint, J. Constr. Steel Res. 166
(2020), 105927, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2020.105927.
[16] P.V. Nhut, Y. Matsumoto, Experimental analytical and theoretical investigations of
CFRP strengthened thin-walled steel plates under shear loads, Thin-Walled Struct.
155 (2020), 106908, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2020.106908.
23
Journal of Constructional Steel Research 203 (2023) 107816
[17] H. Jariwala, P. Jain, A review on mechanical behavior of natural fiber reinforced
polymer composites and its applications, J. Reinf. Plast. Compos. 38 (10) (2019)
441–453, https://doi.org/10.1177/0731684419828524.
[18] Z.Y. Sun, Y.J. Chen, S.Y. Xu, et al., Shaking table test of concrete columns hybrid
reinforced by steel/FRP bars, J. Build. Eng. 48 (2022), 103938, https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.jobe.2021.103938.
[19] M. Dakhel, T. Donchev, H. Hadavinia, Behaviour of connections for hybrid FRP/
steel shear walls, Thin-Walled Struct. 134 (2019) 52–60, https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.tws.2018.10.008.
[20] F. Hatami, A. Rahai, An investigation of FRP composite steel shear walls (CSSW)
under cyclic loading on laboratory, in: The 14th World Conference on Earthquake
Engineering, Beijing, China, 2008.
[21] L.J. Thorburn, G.L. Kulak, C.J. Montgomery, Analysis of steel plate shear walls,
Structural Engineering Report No. 107, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of
Alberta, Canada, 1983.
[22] S.P. Timoshenko, J.M. Gere, Theory of Elastic Stability, McGrow-Hill Book
Company, 1961.
[23] H.T. Wang, S.S. Liu, Q.L. Liu, et al., Influences of the joint and epoxy adhesive type
on the CFRP-steel interfacial behavior, J. Build. Eng. 43 (2021), 103167, https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2021.103167.
[24] H.J. Park, Effects of stacking sequence and clamping force on the bearing strengths
of mechanically fastened joints in composite laminates, Compos. Struct. 68 (1)
(2001) 213–221, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0263-8223(01)00005-8.
[25] W. Li, P.Y. Huang, Z.B. Chen, et al., Bond behavior of fully bonded CFRP-concrete
interface with improved double shear tests, J. Build. Eng. 43 (2021), 102866,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2021.102866.
[26] Y. Xiao, T. Ishikawa, Bearing strength and failure behavior of bolted composite
joints (part I: experimental investigation), Compos. Sci. Technol. 65 (7–8) (2005)
1022–1031, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2005.02.011.
[27] J. Ekh, J. Schön, D. Zenkert, Simple and efficient prediction of bearing failure in
single shear, composite lap joints, Compos. Struct. 105 (2013) 35–44, https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2013.04.038.
[28] GB 50017-2017, Standard for Design of Steel Structures, China Architecture &
Building Press, Beijing, 2017 (in Chinese).
[29] X.Y. Xue, X.H. Zhou, Y. Shi, et al., Ultimate shear resistance of S600E high-strength
stainless steel plate girders, J. Constr. Steel Res. 179 (2021), 106535, https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2021.106535.
[30] S.B. Singh, S. Vummadisetti, H. Chawla, Influence of curing on the mechanical
performance of FRP laminates, J. Build. Eng. 16 (2018) 1–19, https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.jobe.2017.12.002.
[31] SAC, Protocol for fabrication, inspection, testing and documentation of beam
column connection test and other experimental specimens, in: Sacramento, CA:
SAC Joint Venture. SAC Rep. SAC/BD-97/02, 1997.
[32] J. Chaboche, Time independent constitutive theories for cyclic plasticity, Int. J.
Plast. 2 (2) (1986) 149–188, https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-6419(86)90010-0.
[33] ABAQUS, Analysis user’s Manual I_V, Version 6.9., ABAQUS, Inc, Dassault
Systèmes, USA, 2009.
[34] Y.J. Shi, M. Wang, Y.Q. Wang, Experimental and constitutive model study of
structural steel under cyclic loading, J. Constr. Steel Res. 67 (8) (2011) 1185–1197,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2011.02.011.
[35] Z. Hashin, Failure criteria for unidirectional fiber composites, J. Appl. Mech. 47 (2)
(1980) 329–334, https://doi.org/10.1115/1.3153664.
[36] L.H. Guo, R. Li, S.M. Zhang, Simplified model of thin-walled steel plate shear walls,
Eng. Mech. 30 (S1) (2013) 149–153 (in Chinese), https://doi.org/10.6052/j.
issn.1000-4750.2012.05.S021.
[37] Y. Xiao, X.Y. Xue, F.F. Sun, G.Q. Li, Intermediate transverse stiffener requirements
of high-strength steel plate girders considering postbuckling capacity, Eng. Struct.
196 (2019), 109289, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2019.109289.
[38] K.Q. Cai, Y.Z. Huang, C.X. Weng, Seismic behavior and application of twin-tube
BRB, J. Progr. Steel Build. Struct. 7 (3) (2005) 1–8 (In Chinese).