Seismic design criteria for CFS steel-sheathed shear walls

The current European earthquake standard EN1998-1 does not provide the seismic design criteria for cold formed steel (CFS) steel-sheathed shear walls, limiting their use as a lateral force resisting system in lightweight steel buildings. In order to overcome this lack of guidelines, a specific study has been performed to extend the applicability of the Effective Strip Method (ESM), given in North American standard AISI S400 to EN1998-1. The method evaluates the shear resistance of steel-sheathed shear walls and it is permitted only in USA & Mexico as an alternative to tabulated shear resistance for predefined wall configurations. In order to further validate its scope of application, it was applied to additional available experimental results of walls tested in Canada. Only for some configurations, the ESM does not give acceptable predictions. Furthermore, the ESM was applied following the European approach, to make its use possible in context of European seismic design methodology. The overstrength factor for the design of non-dissipative elements was evaluated. Based on the results, it is concluded that the ESM could be appropriate for the evaluation of resistance of steel-sheathed shear walls in Eurocodes.