Cellular-solid shear walls under seismic excitations

Abstract

Cellular solids with deterministic periodic topologies show great potential for applications as response modification elements within structural systems, due to their ultra-light and good thermal properties. Response modification elements can provide additional stiffness and strength, resulting in reduced inter-story drifts and accelerations. A light-weight cellular solid shear wall could work efficiently for vibration mitigation in large scale structural systems. Finite Element models are developed to predict the stiffness, strength, and energy dissipation effectiveness of shear wall panels with cellular solids. The cellular structure of the shear wall essentially eliminates the potential of out of plane buckling which is prevailing in solid steel-plate shear wall systems. In addition, macroscopically, the cellular structure is responsible for the observed pure shear behavior of the panel. A parametric study to quantify the mechanical properties of the cellular shear wall panels is conducted as a function of the thickness and length of the individual cell walls, and the orientation angle of the vertical cell walls. Finally, to evaluate the performance of a structure fitted with cellular shear wall system (CSWS), a model of a three-story structural frame is developed and analyzed under seismic excitation.