Behaviour and design of sheathed light gauge steel panels subjected to in-plane shear and gravity loads

The in-plane shear behaviour of sheathed light gauge steel wall panels is investigated by tests on 2.4 m square wall panels together with push-out tests, to determine the shear fixing stiffness and resistance. Parameters such as sheathing material, screw geometry, stud arrangement, adhesives, combined bracing with sheathing boards, and profiled sheeting were considered. An X-braced panel was used as a benchmark and to interpret the forces in the bracing obtained from measured strains. Wall panels with single C- and back-to-back C- sections in the middle of the panel have equivalent shear stiffness and resistance. The use of non-winged fixings can significantly enhance the stiffness of the panel due to increased thread engagement with the board material. Adhesives on the board-frame interface reduce damage evolution on the board material, while significantly increasing both stiffness and resistance. The tests also included the combination of X-bracing and sheathing boards to determine how their stiffnesses may be combined. It was also shown that profiled steel sheets serve as a potential alternative to X-bracing, although they require more fixings. The design approach based on elastic theory for the fixing properties obtained from push-out tests is in close agreement with the test results obtained from the representative wall panel tests, where the ratio of the recorded to the predicted panel shear stiffness and resistance have an average of 1.03 and 1.05, respectively, with a variation of up to 8 %.