Contribution of gypsum wallboard to lateral resistance capacity of wood shear wall

Wood shear wall is the major lateral force resisting system in light-frame wood construction to resist horizontal loads. Gypsum wallboards are commonly used in partition walls or on the interior of the shear walls. In Chinese code for design of timber structures (GB 50005-2003), the contribution of gypsum wallboard to lateral resistance capacity is not taken into consideration. Evidence suggests that gypsum wallboard contributes to the lateral strength and stiffness of wood shear wall. A total of thirty walls with various sheathing materials were tested under monotonic and cyclic loading. Six walls were sheathed with only one panel of gypsum, twelve walls were sheathed with only one panel of OSB and others were sheathed with OSB on the exterior and gypsum wallboard on the interior. The result indicated that gypsum contributes to ultimate load, elastic stiffness and energy dissipated. Compared with results of walls only sheathed with gypsum wallboard which including the contribution of frame, these contributions did not increase linearly.