Experimental Investigation on Lateral Performance of Timber-Steel Hybrid Shear Wall Systems

TLDR

Timber‑steel hybrid shear wall systems combine steel moment‑resisting frames with infill wood‑frame shear walls. The study investigates the lateral stiffness, load capacity, and hysteretic behavior of timber‑steel hybrid walls with single‑ and double‑sheathed wood‑frame infill. Two full‑scale timber‑steel hybrid structures were subjected to monotonic and reversed cyclic tests, each containing three hybrid shear wall systems, to examine load sharing between timber and steel subsystems. Tests showed that adding wood‑frame infill significantly increased initial lateral stiffness and load absorption, but after infill damage the steel frame carried most of the lateral load.

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the lateral performance of timber-steel hybrid shear wall systems. Such systems are composed of steel moment-resisting frames and infill wood-frame shear walls. Monotonic and reversed cyclic tests of two full-scale timber-steel hybrid structures were conducted. There were three timber-steel hybrid shear wall systems in each structure. The lateral stiffness, lateral load capacities and hysteretic characteristics of the timber-steel hybrid shear wall systems with single- and double-sheathed infill wood-frame shear walls were investigated. The load sharing effect between the timber and the steel subsystems was studied. The test results showed that the installation of the infill wood-frame shear wall produced a significant increase in the initial lateral stiffness of the bare steel moment-resisting frame. The infill wood-frame shear walls were very effective in the initial stages of loading and absorbed a substantial part of the lateral load. However, once damage developed in the infill wood-frame shear walls, the lateral load was essentially resisted by the steel moment-resisting frames.