Experiments on seismic behaviour of steel sheathed cold-formed steel shear walls cladded by gypsum and fiber cement boards

• Cyclic loading tests conducted on cladded steel sheathed walls.
• Results show a significant increase in shear strength of cladded specimens.
• Energy dissipation capacity increases when cladding the walls.
• A safe and efficient design must incorporate the cladding effects.

In this paper experiments are presented to investigate the seismic response of steel sheathed cold-formed steel (CFS) shear walls using gypsum and fiber cement board claddings. Six steel sheathed wall specimens of various cladding configurations were tested under cyclic loading. The use of claddings at either or both sides of the walls results in an increase of their lateral stiffness, shear strength and energy dissipation capacity by up to 67, 80% and 76%, respectively. On the use of claddings connected to the CFS walls their effects on the shear strength must be incorporated into the current design specifications for an efficient and safe design.