Behaviour of light-gauge steel-frame - wood structural panel shear walls

The second phase of the research project to develop a shear wall design method that could be used in conjunction with the 2005 National Building Code of Canada involved evaluation of the performance characteristics of the tested steel-frame - wood structural panel shear walls. A nonlinear and pinched resistance versus deflection hysteretic behaviour was exhibited, although in most cases the walls could sustain large inelastic deformation cycles with limited strength degradation. A significant amount of energy could be dissipated under reversed cyclic loading. Walls 1220 mm and 2440 mm in length were able to develop their maximum capacity at similar displacement levels; however, the 610 mm long walls required significantly larger displacements prior to reaching their ultimate shear resistance. The performance of the walls was directly linked to the behaviour of the sheathing-to-framing screw connections, except in one case in which local buckling of the chord studs controlled the ultimate shear resistance. Given the behaviour observed during testing, this type of wall construction can be relied on to resist lateral loading, including earthquake effects in the inelastic range, assuming the designer ensures that failure of the wall is limited to the sheathing-to-framing connections.