Analytical Study on Seismic Performance of Aluminium Sandwich Shear Wall with Different Core Shapes

Shear walls are efficient monotonic load resisting systems in high rise or super high rise framed structures and hence are the most critical elements in seismic design. This paper focus on application of Aluminium sandwich shear walls (ASSW) consist of aluminium panels as top and bottom plates and aluminium core to serve as seismic protection system. ASSW have the advantage that these are light weight systems with high stiffness to weight ratio and bending strength. These could well replace steel shear walls which are having more structural weight. This paper presents analytical analysis of performance of ASSW under monotonic and seismic loading using ANSYS software. Sandwich shear wall models were first simulated, verified and analysis was carried out. The response of aluminum sandwich shear wall with two different core shapes or configurations are studied to obtain optimum core shape or configuration for maximum load bearing capacity. Then full scale monotonic and cyclic tests were conducted on aluminium sandwich shear wall with optimum core shapes or configurations. The obtained results allow useful information for the selection of aluminium sandwich shear wall in the seismic design of framed structures.