Abstract
The authors developed a new type of steel slit shear wall (SSSW) having the function of structural condition assessment through visually inspecting the out-of-plane deformation of the designed tapered links subjected to lateral deformation. To facilitate its practical application, this paper studies how to design dimensions of the tapered links. Two parameters, the width-to-thickness ratio of the tapered links and steel yield stress, were studied. The performance of structural condition assessment was affected by both parameters with the width-to-thickness ratio being the controlling one. Through both numerical and experimental study, the designed width-to-thickness ratio of tapered links for different levels of structural condition assessment was established considering the effect of different steel grades used. In practice, the dimensions of tapered links can be determined following the design equation provided. Finally, a design procedure for the proposed SSSW system is provided.