Experimental Investigation of Cold-Formed Steel Framed Shear Wall Using Corrugated Steel Sheathing with Circular Holes

Abstract

The paper presents an experimental investigation of light-gauged cold-formed steel shear wall using corrugated steel sheets with circular holes. Corrugated steel sheathing has been shown to significantly increase the strength of the cold-formed steel shear walls but the ductility of the wall was not suitable for seismic applications. One possible solution involves creating openings in the corrugated sheets to improve the ductility. The test program included a total of 10 full-scale shear wall tests which had three different circular opening configurations and two nonperforated sheathing configurations. The research discovered that by having circular holes in the corrugated sheathing, the tested cold-formed steel shear walls could fail in sheathing ruptures instead of screw failures. The shear walls did gain ductility due to the new failure mode; however, the stiffness and strength of the shear walls were significantly reduced. It is therefore not recommended by the authors to use circular holes in corrugated sheets for the investigated cold-formed steel shear walls to gain ductility.