It is difficult to design SPSW ( steel plate shear wall) for Chinese current design code. To solve this
problem,the finite element software ANSYS was applied to analyze the elastic-plastic buckling behavior under the
shear force. The influences of parameters,such as initial imperfection,width to height ratio and width to thickness
ratio,on the elastic-plastic buckling of SPSW were compared. According to the results of the analysis,the rational
parameter to evaluate the elastic-plastic buckling behavior of SPSW was presented. Based on the FEA data and
Chinese current design codes, formulas, used to calculate elastic-plastic instability of SPSW, were fitted.
Comparisons with the numerical results showed that the proposed formulas had good accuracy and could be applied in
practical engineering.