An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Influence of Fire on the Seismic Shear Capacity of Cold-Formed Steel Shear Walls
Published
Author(s)
Blanca Andres Valiente, Matthew Hoehler
Abstract
Lightweight construction using cold-formed steel (CFS) stud represent roughly 20 % of the multi-story nonresidential building market in the United States. During an earthquake, these buildings rely on the performance of their lateral force-resisting system (LFRS). While there is extensive information about the structural and fire performance of cold-formed steel construction, there is scarce knowledge about the performance CFS-LFRS under combined multi- hazards, such as mechanical and fire loading. Initial tests on earthquake-damaged steel- sheathed CFS shear walls under natural fire load showed a change in failure mode from local to global buckling and highlighted the significance of the response of the gypsum on the overall fire and load-bearing behavior. A second phase of the project extends the study to multiple levels of fire loading and two additional CFS-LFRSs: (1) Oriented Strand Board (OSB) shear panels, and (2) steel-strap braced CFS walls. Walls are tested under combined mechanical and thermal loading. The mechanical loading setup nominally follows ASTM E2126 and the fire load is provided by a natural gas diffusion burner located in a compartment placed next to the wall. Tests are performed at ambient conditions and under three different fire loads representing (1) the ASTM E119 standard fire, (2) a severe natural fire, and (3) a mild natural fire. Results from this study are intended to provide data for a range of system performance under realistic conditions and will inform fire compartmentation design when significant lateral deformation of the building is anticipated, post-fire assessment to repair or replace a structure, as well as first responder decisions to enter a building when earthquake aftershocks are likely.
Proceedings Title
Eleventh U.S. National Conference on Earthquake Engineering
Andres Valiente, B.
and Hoehler, M.
(2018),
Influence of Fire on the Seismic Shear Capacity of Cold-Formed Steel Shear Walls, Eleventh U.S. National Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Los Angeles, CA, US, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=924628
(Accessed December 12, 2024)