Seismic Design Strength of Cold-Formed Steel-Framed Shear Walls

A method for estimating the available strength level (load and resistance factor design) seismic resistance of light-frame cold-formed steel shear walls is discussed. The proposed method attempts to account for the early onset of inelastic behavior in light-frame shear walls by evaluating the strength level resistance in terms of an equivalent shear wall yield strength. Application of the proposed method is illustrated using shear wall data from an independent test program and wall performance is compared to current light-frame bearing wall design requirements and expected system performance. It is shown that the proposed method results in design values that are generally conservative compared to current design recommendations and the overall performance of the tested walls is characterized using five parameters that relate common design strength and displacement quantities.