Experimental study of the shearing behavior of cold-formed steel wall panels under cyclic load

In order to study the shearing behavior of cold-formed steel wall panels, full scale model test was carried out for 10 pieces of wall panels under cyclic horizontal load. The shearing performance indexes of wall panels such as yield load, maximum load, failure load, energy dissipation coefficient, and ductility factor were calculated using the test results. Based on the analysis, the following conclusions are obtained. The wall panels had good energy dissipation capacity. The shear resistance of the wall panels mainly derived from skin action. The diagonal bracings were helpful to improve the shear resistance of single-column wall panel while nearly useless to double-column wall panel. The per unit shear resistance of wall panel with openings was higher than that of ordinary wall panel when the shear load carrying capacity of openings was ignored. The shear load carrying capacities of double-column wall panels were obviously higher than that of single-column ones. The strain response was largest for the column, smaller for the transverse bracing, and smallest for the diagonal bracing. The interface slip between the upper and lower wallboards was obvious, thus the seams between wallboards should be as small as possible and the transverse continuous seams should be avoided in practice. The shearing rigidity and design shear capacity of wall panels were suggested and the seismic behavior of a 3-story shaking table test model of cold-formed thin-walled residential house was evaluated.