On the equivalent simple models of braced steel shear panels

Through the combination of two types of seismic resisting systems including braced frames and steel shear walls, braced steel shear panel systems can be formed. This new lateral load-resisting system solves some of the defects of current special steel shear walls, such as imposing significant loads on boundary elements along with gravity load effects. Analysis and design of this new structural system underline the importance of having simple and precise finite-element models. To this aim, this paper presents two types of equivalent braced frames termed ‘overall equivalent brace’ and ‘equivalent mid-brace’. The equations of brace area, material strength and strain-hardening ratio are obtained in two states of considering both braces or regardless of compressive brace. Next, non-linear lateral displacement, yield and ultimate values of base shear of one-storey and three-storey equivalent models are compared with the results of strip models. The findings show that the proposed models can obtain acceptable results by considering both braces only with equivalent area along with material strength.