Seismic response investigation and analytical model of light polymer material-filled CFS shear walls

Abstract

The light polymer material (LPM), prepared with suitable mix proportion and physical method, is a type of low-carbon and environmental-friendly material. Recently, the LPM is developed as structural material for cold-formed steel (CFS) structures to cover the shortages of traditional CFS shear wall. In this paper, material properties of gypsum-based and cement-based LPM including compressive strength, elastic modulus and thermal property were explored by tests. Experimental results demonstrate that LPM exhibits excellent thermal insulation, and the thermal insulation and compressive strength of LPM satisfy the demand of bearing capacity and thermal insulation property of shear walls. To explore the effect of LPM on seismic response and failure modes of CFS shear walls, three specimens are manufactured and tested under cyclic loading. The existence of LPM in CFS shear wall would restrain the failure of wall studs to some extent. Due to the restriction effect of LPM on wall studs and self-drilling screws and the bond-slip performance between LPM and studs, the shear walls exhibit better seismic behavior than traditional CFS shear walls. At last, a modified equivalent bracing model is employed to predict the lateral stiffness of LPM-filled CFS shear walls considering the effect of filling materials, rib lath, and sheathing. The lateral stiffness obtained by the proposed method is compared to the experimental results in this paper and other researches, and the proposed model is proved to supply a conservative result which is safe to be adopted in the design and application of the LPM-filled CFS shear wall.