Midply Wood Shear Wall System: Performance in Dynamic Testing

The midply shear wall system is a new concept in shear wall design. Test results presented here demonstrate that midply walls have superior survival characteristics under earthquake loading, and have a dynamic load-carrying capacity of more than two and a half times that of comparable standard shear walls. To prevent brittle failure at the end studs due to high-tension forces, steel rods are used at each end of the midply wall in lieu of hold-down connectors. Seismic damage accumulation was identified experimentally for the first time in wood shear walls under repeated earthquake loading. Further understanding of this phenomenon is important for seismic safety evaluation of buildings which experience multiple earthquakes during their service life. This study and the previous work on the static and cyclic performance of midply walls provide design engineers with experimental and conceptual evidence of the suitability of midply walls in wood construction applications where the architecture requires superior shear resistance.