Steel sheet sheathing options for CFS framed shear wall aseemblies providing shear resistance

In cold-formed steel construction, stud walls covered with steel sheet sheathing is an available option to resist lateral loads such as those caused by wind and earthquakes. The current American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Framing - Lateral Design 2004 Edition provides nominal shear strength for a limited range of steel sheet sheathed shear wall configurations. This report presents a research project developed to add values for 0.030-in. and 0.033-in. steel sheet sheathed shear walls with 2:1 and 4:1 aspect ratios and 0.027-in. sheet steel shear walls with 2:1 aspect ratio and 6-in., 4-in., 3-in., and 2-in. fastener spacing at panel edges. For all specimen configurations, the steel sheet sheathing was installed on one face of the wall. The test program consisted of two series of shear wall tests. The first series focused on determining the nominal shear strength for wind loads for which monotonic tests in accordance with ASTM E564 standard were performed. The second series of tests addressed the nominal shear strength for seismic loads for which the reversed cyclic tests using CUREE protocol were conducted. The research was sponsored by AISI and SSMA, and was performed at University of North Texas