Experimental Study On The Shear Behavior Of First-floor Composite Wall In Multistory Housing

The shear resistance of the first floor cold-formed steel composited wall was studied in six stories residential structures in this paper. The paper s main content: One is experimental study on cold-formed steel stud wall, the other is nonlinear finite element analysis of wall and the end is the calculation of the initial rigidity of composited wall. The paper s purpose is providing data about the shear behavior of cold-formed composited wall for multi-layer cold-formed steel housing system based on test results and the results of finite element analysis.The shear behavior of walls with X support, single-side particleboard and one side X support one side OSB board which are made in full scale of practical engineering project is tested in this paper. The height of specimens is2.9meter and the width is2.4meter. The space of the wall studs is600millimeter and400millimeter. The wall sheeting is12mm OSB board, the X supports thickness is1.78mm and width is30mm.the loading method is cyclic with vertical loadings. The results show that:with the studs spacing from600mm to400mm, the shear strength, initial stiffness, the shear stiffness at yield load, maximum load have been improved, the wall shear resistance for the specimens with OSB board is greater than that of wall shear resistance for the specimens with X support.Nonlinear finite element analysis involving large deformation and material nonlinear is used to simulate test walls under cyclic with vertical loadings in this paper. All members are modeled as plastic shell element; the screws connecting sheathing and frame are modeled through coupling methods. The equation resolution method is selected by finite element program automatically. The finite element analysis results are in good agreement with that of tests, which proves that the finite element analysis is correct and feasible. On this basis, a series of factors such as stud spacing, brace and rigid bracing’s establishment and component wall thickness are considered, the results show that:using brace and rigid bracing can prevent the vertical distortions for walls and improve the shear capacity of composite wall, but the influence is not big; the shear capacity can be raised or lowered6%to10%to change the thickness of steel and wall sheeting.Through the test results and finite element analysis, we can draw a conclusion that the wall we tested can satisfy engineering application. In the end, based on research results in this paper we bring forward some problems which are need to be solved in this subject.