Abstract：A new type of lateral force resisting system, steel frame with multi-ribbed grid composited steel plate shear wall structure, proposed by the authors is tested and analyzed in detail. The force-transferring mechanism of the system is analyzed, the detailing of the multi-ribbed grid is proposed and the seismic behavior is analyzed by finite element model. The experimental test was conducted on a two-story two-bay specimen of the structure under cyclic quasi-static loading to investigate its seismic performance. The interaction between the wall plate and the surrounding frame and failure mode were investigated with regard to the loading capacity, stiffness and energy dissipation capacity. Experimental result indicates that the structure resisted the lateral load by the shear action of the wall plate in the elastic stage and when in the inelastic stage the resistance was provided by the tension zone which arises in the buckled wall plate. The multi-ribbed grids can avoid the overall shear buckling of the wall plate, limit it’s out-plane deformation, increase the initial stiffness, decrease the additional bending moment of the vertical boundary element, avoid the pinch shrinkage of the hysteresis loop and significantly improve the energy dissipation capacity. The steel frame can cooperate with the wall plate in resisting the lateral load, and the structure exhibited stable behavior at very large deformation. Primary inelastic damage mode was the yielding of the infill plates combined with the surrounding frame beam and column yielding.
