Study on Effective Length Factors of the Members in a Sustainable Assembled Steel Grid Shear Wall

Abstract

In recent years, prefabricated construction has emerged as a building form that addresses the issues including large amounts of construction waste, low resource utilization efficiency, and severe environmental pollution, which were caused by the traditional rough construction methods in the construction industry. It features efficient construction, high resource and energy utilization efficiency, and environmental friendliness, thus effectively promoting sustainable development of the construction industry. Steel grid shear walls (SGSW) are an efficient lateral force-resisting system that solves the problems of suboptimal housing quality and low level of component standardization and assembly when used in prefabricated residential construction. They offer advantages such as lightweight and standardized components, convenient fabrication and installation, high level of assembly, and easy post-earthquake repair, contributing to sustainable assembled structure forms. However, the stability of its grid components has not been deeply investigated and needs to be addressed. This study aimed to determine the effective length factor for steel grid members in SGSW. Firstly, an eigenvalue buckling analysis of the SGSW was conducted. The effective length factor of the steel grid member was calculated using Euler’s formula. The key variables were determined with the use of parametric analysis, based on which two computational formulas for the effective length factor of the steel grid member were established through fitting methods. To validate the calculation formulas, the stabilized bearing capacity of the steel grid member was estimated using nonlinear buckling analysis and compared with the exact solution. The results demonstrate that the fitted effective length factors performed better in terms of goodness of fit while the proposed effective length factor formulas can meet the safety requirements. These findings provide a theoretical basis for the design of the SGSW structure in the future, and establish a theoretical foundation for the development and application of SGSW in prefabricated constructions.