Lateral Loading Performance of Lightweight Glubam Shear Walls

A new type of lightweight shear walls made with a laminated bamboo (glubam) stud frame and ply-bamboo sheathing panels is introduced in this paper. The lateral loading experiments of such shear walls and corresponding similar lightweight wood shear walls with three different panel-frame nailing connections and two thicknesses of sheathing panels were performed, in accordance with international standards. Test results demonstrate that the lightweight glubam shear walls have similar performance as conventional lightweight wood-frame shear walls, with higher initial stiffness and peak load, but less ductility. An increase in nail diameter can improve the load-bearing capacity of the shear walls until the failure mode of panel-frame connection changes from yielding of the nails to pull-through of nails from the ply-bamboo panels. Increased panel thickness can increase the bearing capacity and deformability of the shear walls when the failure pattern of panel-frame connection changes from panel failure to nail yielding. A new uplift hold-down device and improved design of edge studs were used to increase the ductile performance of glubam shear walls.