This research is concentrated on the study of structural strength and behavior of cold-formed steel frame with strap bracing subjected to horizontal loads. The wall specimens with and without calcium silicate board sheathing were tested to compare the differences of shear resistance. Based on the test data, the ultimate strength, stiffness, ductility ratio, and failure behavior were studied for each specimen, and the wall's movements were also discussed in this paper. The cold-formed steel framing wall without bracing from previous study was introduced for the comparison purpose. As expected, the ultimate strength was increased for the cold-formed steel wall sheathed with calcium silicate board after installing strap bracing. However, the initial stiffness and ductility ratio of cladded wall specimens with bracing did not show much difference as compared to cladded wall specimens without bracing. It was found that the ultimate strength of cold-formed steel wall frame installed with both sheathing and strap bracing is not the sum of ultimate strengths of cold-formed steel wall frame with sheathing and cold-formed steel wall frame with strap bracing only. A better performance of energy absorption beyond the portion of ultimate strength was found for the wall specimen with both sheathing and bracing. It was also observed that the failure type and location are different for the cladded wall specimens with and without bracing.
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