Theoretical Analysis and Testing of Steel Frame with Cold-Formed Steel Shear Walls with Steel Sheathing

Abstract

A new structural system, called steel frame with cold-formed steel shear infill walls (SFIW), is developed by using cold-formed steel shear walls with steel sheathing plates on both sides as infill walls in steel frame. The purpose is to investigate the ultimate strength of SFIW by a theoretical analysis and to study the cyclic behavior of SFIW by tests. Cyclic loading tests were conducted to characterize the seismic behavior and failure mechanism of the proposed system, and to identify the shear resistance contribution ratio between the infill wall and the steel frame. The results showed that SFIW exhibited relatively high ultimate strength, good ductility, and substantial energy absorption capacity. Furthermore, plastic analysis of this structural system was performed to investigate the ultimate strength of SFIW. The calculated values of the ultimate strengths by the proposed analytical theories were compared with the tested values and reasonable agreement was observed.