Experimental Study and Finite Element Analysis of Seismic Performance of Light Steel Stud Walls Clad with Different Composite Panels

Assembled cold-formed steel modular walls are the main lateral force-resisting elements of cold-formed steel homes. In this paper, low-cycle reciprocating loading tests were carried out on cold-formed thin-walled steel shear walls without sheathing panels and clad with three different types of sheathing panels (fire-resistant straw, gypsum, and oriented strand boards [OSB]). This paper analyzes the damage modes, shear strengths, and load–displacement curves of these shear walls, the influence of the sheathing panels’ strengths and elasticities, and the effect of the panels’ nail withdrawal resistance on the skin. The influence of different sheathing panels on the shear capacity of shear walls and the use of screws significantly improves the ratio of shear capacity to ultimate displacement, but reduces the energy dissipation coefficient of the combination of walls. By comparing the three different sheathing panels, fire-resistant strawboard provided the greatest increase in shear capacity for the modular wall, and gypsum board provided the least increase in shear capacity for the modular wall.