Effect of Connection Type on the Behaviour of Cold-Formed Steel Sheathed Shear Walls under Monotonic Loading

Abstract In this study, the performance of cold-formed steel (CFS) shear walls sheathed with steel plates under monotonic loading was investigated experimentally and numerically, focusing on the impact of the connection type on their overall behaviour. In the experimental study, two wall panel specimens were tested. For the first specimen, self-drilling screws were used to connect the steel sheet with the CFS studs and tracks. For the second specimen, high-strength mechanical bolts were used. The experimental results showed that the wall panel with high-strength bolted connections had significantly enhanced shear strength and stiffness compared to those with self-drilling screw connections. The experimental results were used to verify a non-linear finite element model. The results obtained from the non-linear finite element analysis were in good agreement with those obtained experimentally. An extended parametric study was performed to investigate the effect of connection type on the sheathed CFS frame strength for two hundred and forty wall panels with different configurations. In the parametric study, fastener spacing, sheathing thickness, wall width, and fastener type were considered as variables. According to the obtained experimental and numerical results, a proposal was provided for choosing the appropriate connection type according to the geometric configuration of the wall to improve the overall capacity of the steel-sheathed CFS shear walls.