The Effect of Sheathing Material on Racking Performance of Plywood Shear Wall

Abstract

Wooden buildings are intensely preferred especially in earthquake regions due to their many advantages such as lightness, durability, environmental friendliness, insulation and aesthetics. Shear walls provide the lateral resistance needed for light-frame wood structures to withstand earthquake loads. When sheathed with wooden structural panels such as plywood, shear walls can be strong, stiff, and ductile. This study focuses on the effects of production factors (wood species, thickness of panels) of plywood and fibre direction of sheathing material on the racking performance of the shear wall. The displacement at ultimate load decreased with increasing the thickness of plywood panels. It was also concluded that the black pine plywood panels were the best sheathing materials for the shear walls among wood species in terms of ductility. Scots pine plywood panels are the best sheathing materials for the shear walls among wood species in terms of load carrying capacity. Moreover, it was found that the wall formed perpendicular to fibre direction of sheathing materials could carry more load than the wall formed parallel to fibre direction.