Experimental Investigation of Cold-Formed Steel Shear Walls Sheathed with Steel-Gypsum Composite Panels

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the behavior and performance of the coldformed steel (CFS) framed shear walls sheathed with a composite panel which contains a 27 mil steel sheet and a 5/8 in. gypsum board bonded together. The shear wall framing configurations were selected to be suitable for mid-rise buildings. Both monotonic and cyclic tests were conducted and the research was focused on the seismic performance. It was found that the composite panel provided considerably higher shear strength than the traditional wood based sheathing and the 33 mil steel sheathing. The composite panel demonstrated similar failure mechanism and post-peak behavior as the steel sheet sheathing. It is concluded that the tested composite panel is a suitable structural sheathing material for mid-rise buildings, particularly the Type I and II constructions, in seismic areas.

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