CFS shear walls braced with steel sheets: proposal of seismic design criteria for the next EN1998

The paper describes a specific study performed to include seismic design criteria for cold-formed steel (CFS) steel-sheathed shear walls in the next version of the European earthquake standard EN1998. In particular, the study aims to extend the applicability of the Effective Strip Method (ESM), given in North American standard AISI S400 to the next European standard EN1998. The ESM is an alternative to the tabulated method given by AISI S400 for the evaluation of the shear resistance of steel-sheathed cold-formed steel (SSCFS) shear walls and it is allowed to use in USA & Mexico for predefined wall configurations. In the presented study the ESM is applied to additional available experimental results of walls tested in Canada, in order to further prove its validity for wall configurations different from those used for its initial calibration. Moreover, the ESM is applied following the European approach, to make its use possible in context of European seismic design methodology. The main conclusion is that the ESM could be appropriate for the evaluation of resistance of SSCFS shear walls and it could be implemented in the next version of EN1998, considering some modifications.