The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Racking behavior of wood-framed gypsum panels under dynamic load

Oliva, Michael G.

UCB/EERC-85/06, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1985, 49 pages (515/O39/1990)

This report describes an experimental program which was conducted to determine the strength, damage mechanisms, displacement limits, and stiffnesses of walls constructed of wood light-framing and sheathed with gypsum board. Nearly identical walls were tested with lateral loads applied slowly or statically, at a slow cyclical rate, and at a dynamic rate. Two groups of walls were examined: walls with the sheathing nailed to the frame, and walls with the sheathing nail-glued to the frames. In both groups, the sheathing was placed in a horizontal position since previous studies indicated such placement results in improved strength.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-85-06.pdf (3 MB)