Buckling of Conventionally Sheathed Stud Walls

Abstract

Sheathing materials such as plywood, oriented strand board (OSB), drywall, and fiberboard are commonly attached to one or both sides of load-bearing stud walls in residential and commercial construction. There is no consensus among structural engineering professionals as to which of these sheathing materials provide protection against weak-axis buckling of the load-bearing wood studs. Plywood is generally accepted as providing the necessary bracing, but building codes do not specifically state which of the other sheathing materials are acceptable for bracing studs against compression buckling. This study involves testing of