Behavior of cold-formed steel wall frame systems lined with plasterboard

摘要

Gypsum plasterboard is a common lining material for steel wall frame systems. It is used in combination with cold-formed steel studs (C or lipped C-sections) for both the load bearing and nonload bearing walls in the residential and commercial building construction. This type of construction is common in Australia and the USA. However, the design of these wall frames does not utilise the full strengthening effects of the plasterboard in carrying axial loads. Therefore an experimental investigation was conducted using a total of 20 full-scale wall frame tests including unlined, both sides lined and one-side lined wall frames. Test results were compared with predictions from the Australian standard AS 4600-1996 and the American specification AISI-1996. This paper presents the details of the experimental study, the results, and comparisons with design code predictions.