Numerical models for the analysis of shear walls in light steel residential buildings

In recent years, the use of steel light housing structural solutions made of cold-formed thin-walled profiles (CFS) is becoming increasingly popular. Lightness, high structural efficiency, durability, rapidity and simplicity of erection of the building and its finishes are some of the main advantages of these systems, which make them attractive and competitive with respect to more traditional constructional solutions. In these buildings, which do have a skeleton made of cold-formed steel pro-files completed by sheathings made of various materials, the key role of transmission of both vertical and horizontal loads from the floors to the foundation, is played by the shear walls. Recently, the University of Trento carried out a project aimed to develop an industrialized housing system made of CFS members. In this framework, experimental and numerical studies of the in-plane lateral response of shear walls were performed. In particular, this paper summarizes first the experimental program and then it focuses on the main features of numerical models and on their validation in both monotonic and cyclic regime. The critical parameters governing the response of these complex systems are finally identified and discussed.