Capacity design of vertical boundary elements in steel plate shear walls

The 2005 AISC Provisions for steel plate shear walls (SPSW) require that the vertical and horizontal boundary elements (VBEs and HBEs) need to be designed, to remain elastic at the ends of horizontal boundary elements. Some of the approaches that are provided in The Provisions for determining capacity design loads for the VBEs of SPSWs are also highlighted. These approaches describe the way capacity design objective may be achieved, using nonlinear static analysis. A new procedure has also been proposed that uses a plastic collapse mechanism and linear beam analysis, to approximate the design actions for VBEs of SPSWs for given web plates and horizontal boundary member sizes. The proposed is suitable to be used in design, as it is free from performing nonlinear analysis.