Several experiments are conducted to investigate the seismic behavior of composite shear walls because of their advantages compared to traditional reinforced concrete (RC) walls. However, the numerical studies are limited due to the complexities for the steel and concrete behaviors and their interaction. This paper presents a numerical study of composite shear walls with stiffened steel plates and infilled concrete (CWSC) using ABAQUS. The mechanical mechanisms of the web plate and concrete are studied. FE models are used to conduct parametric analysis to study the law of parameters on the seismic behaviour. The finite element (FE) model shows good agreement with the test results, including the hysteresis curves, failure phenomenon, ultimate strength, initial stiffness, and ductility. The web plate and concrete are the main components to resist lateral force. The web plate is found to contribute between 55% and 85% of the lateral force of wall. The corner of web plate mainly resists the vertical force, and the rest of web plate resists shear force. The concrete is separated into several columns by stiffened plates, each of which is independent and resisted vertical force. The wall thickness, steel ratio, and shear span ratio have the greatest influence on ultimate bearing capacity and elastic stiffness. The shear span ratio and axial compression ratio have the greatest influence on ductility. The test and analytical results are used to propose formulas to evaluate the ultimate strength capacity and stiffness of the composite shear wall under cyclic loading. The formulas could well predict the ultimate strength capacity reported in the literature.
Keywords: design formulation; finite element analysis; mechanical mechanism; parametric study.