In-plane Tests of Cold-Formed Steel Shear Walls Sheathed with Gypsum Sheathing

The use of Cold-Formed Steel (CFS) sections has gained attention due to their advantages, including lightweight construction and rapid implementation in prefabricated modular systems. Additionally, their utilization in regions with significant seismic hazards should be in compliance with international building codes. Therefore, it is essential to examine how these elements made by CFS sections perform as lateral load-resistant systems under earthquake conditions. One of the types of earthquake-resistant systems in structures constructed with CFS sections is shear walls made from steel frames with CFS sections sheathed with gypsum-based panels. Thesewalls play a crucial role in enhancing the seismic performance of such structures. This study, conducted at the Structural Laboratory of Federico II University, aims to investigate the seismic behaviour of these walls at full scale level through experimental tests. In this campaign of experiments, four wall prototypes were subjected to inplane testing. One test evaluated the behaviour of a shear wall under monotonic loading, while the other three tests examined the behaviour of thewalls under cyclic loading using the CUREE protocol. Various parameters were investigated in order to capture their influence on the seismic behaviour of the shear walls, including the effect of cyclic loading, spacing of fasteners connecting gypsum-based panels to steel profiles, and wall’s aspect ratio. The paper presents the experimental program, as well as the descriptions of wall prototypes, setup, instrumentation, and loading protocols, together with the main results, as load-displacement response curves and collapse mechanisms.