The ever-increasing need for housing generated the search for new and innovative building methods to increase efficiency and enhance quality, one direction being the use of light steel profiles as load bearing elements and different materials for cladding. Shear walls made of light gauge (LG) steel skeleton in combination with different cladding materials, represent the basic load bearing element of LG structures to resist horizontal loading (i.e. wind and earthquake). For earthquake loading, besides load bearing capacity, factors like ductility, over-strength and energy dissipation, are important parameters too. In this paper, results of a full-scale shear test program on wall panels are presented, together with a nonlinear model employed to investigate aspects of the dynamic behaviour of LG shear walls.
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