Abstract: As a kind of new lateral load resisting member, steel plate shear wall (SPSWs) has some advanced points, such as high loading-carrying capacity, good ductility and excellent energy dissipation capacity. This paper presents the finite elment analysis of thin-walled SPSWs under a cyclic load, whose results are validated by comparing with experimental results. Based on the finite element model, the hysteretic behavior of SPSWs with height-to-thickness ratio of 500 is analyzed. Then a simplified combined strip model is proposed, which is suitable for the analysis of SPSWs in structural analysis.