Analytical and experimental studies of cold-formed steel shear panels

In the scope of this thesis, lateral load resisting capacity of cold-formed steel framed shear panels have been observed experimentally as well as analytically. Experimental observations on different configuration of shear panels and analytical study have been performed respectively in order to examine the match between experimental and analytical results. In residential applications, cold-formed steel frame is mostly sheathed with gypsum wallboard (GWB), oriented strand board (OSB) or plywood depending on the design purposes and architectural considerations. When a cold-formed steel frame is coated with one of these sheathings, it starts to behave analogous to an entire shear panel which can resist lateral loading. The behavior of these shear panels depends significantly on screw spacing, board thickness, cold-formed steel thickness, aspect ratio, strength of fasteners and sheathing type. In order to determine the effect of these factors as well as to receive various experimental results to be used in the new Turkish Earthquake Code which is planned to be published and renewed in 2016, a significant sum of experiments have been conducted for different panel configurations in Structures Laboratory of Boğaziçi University. In addition to experimental studies, analytical model representing one of the particular shear panels has been developed in SAP2000 software. After obtaining a good match between experimental and analytical results, a new model was constructed representing a typical one-story structure located in Turkey, and the performance of this structure was examined against the design earthquake specified in Turkish Earthquake Code 2007. The ultimate goal here was not only to obtain a satisfactory match between experimental and analytical results but also to prove that constructing cold-formed steel framed shear panels in seismic-prone regions such as Turkey is safe and sound.