ABSTRACT
Turkey is situated on a very active earthquake zone of the world. The seismic rehabilitation of existing buildings are required for future earthquakes. The main problem in Turkish building stock is the insufficient lateral rigidity. Recently, the steel shear walls are used to increase the stiffness of the frames for steel structures. It has several advantages compared to the steel bracings. The Steel plate Shear Walls (SPSW) are composed a diagonal tension field across the opposite corners of the frame. In this study, use of SPSW’s were investigated experimentally. The generic specimen was 1/3 scaled, two storey, one bay RC frame. It represents the exterior frame of the building. The first specimen was the reference specimen which didn’t contain any strengthening. In the other specimens steel plate shear walls were used to cover the external façade of the frame opening. These SPSW’s are intented to increase the lateral stiffness of the frame. Lateral reversed cyclic hystersis curves of the specimens, envelope curves, maximum lateral load carrying capacities, energy absorption capacities, increase in lateral rigidities were evaluated.
