SUMMARY
YIELDING SHEAR PLATES HAVE BEEN WIDELY USED IN METALLIC DAMPERS AS THE PRIMARY SOURCE OF ENERGY DISSIPATION. THIS STUDY INVESTIGATED THE BEHAVIOR OF YIELDING SHEAR PLATES WITH DIFFERENT ASPECT RATIOS WHEN SUBJECTED TO A GRADUALLY INCREASING LATERAL LOAD. FIVE SHEAR LINKS WITH THE THICKNESS OF 1MM AND ASPECT RATIOS RANGING FROM 1.0 TO 1.5 WERE CONSTRUCTED AND TESTED. THE FORCE-DISPLACEMENT RELATIONSHIPS OF THE SHEAR LINKS WERE IDEALIZED AND REPRESENTED BY BILINEAR CURVES. THE OBTAINED RESULTS INDICATED THAT THE SQUARE SHEAR LINKS HAD A LARGER DISPLACEMENT DUCTILITY RATIO, INITIAL AND EFFECTIVE STIFFNESS WHEN COMPARED WITH RECTANGULAR SHEAR LINKS. IT WAS ALSO OBSERVED THAT THE INITIAL, EFFECTIVE, AND POST-YIELD STIFFNESS OF SQUARE SHEAR LINKS WERE INCREASED AS THEIR SIZE WAS INCREASED. HOWEVER, THE DISPLACEMENT DUCTILITY RATIO OF SHEAR LINKS WITH SQUARE DIAPHRAGM WAS DECREASED AS THE SIZE OF THE SHEAR LINK WAS INCREASED.