| Ductile steel plate shear walls are an established lateral load resisting system. Past research indicates that cold-rolled infill panels less than 1 mm in thickness present one solution to an overstrength problem arising from selecting an infill panel thickness based on ease of welding and handling. This research program examines several possible welding procedures and joint geometry to connect the thin infill panel to the thick boundary elements. Primary welding parameters include short-circuiting gas metal arc welding process, electrode and shielding gas selection, heat input, and use of a chill strip. Four configurations of the infill panel-to-boundary element joint and two configurations of a lap splice joint between two sheets of thin steel in the infill panel were tested in monotonic tension and cyclic tension-compression. A quasi-static cyclic test of a single-storey moment resisting frame steel plate shear wall validated the use of one welding procedure and joint geometry. |