Wood Frame Shearwalls

[tdsull]

I am looking for values and design considerations for un-bloked wood shearwalls.

 

[DaveAtkins]

Technically, there is no such thing. A shear wall, by definition, must be blocked. You will not find tables for unblocked shear walls, as far as I know.

However, I have an article that discusses some research on this very topic. It says that you can take the value for a blocked shear wall, with fasteners spaced 4" oc, and divide by 2 to get the value for an unblocked shear wall with fasteners spaced 6" oc. This assumes studs are spaced 16" oc.

DaveAtkins

 

[boo1]

Consider reviewing some of APA work on unblocked shear walls and the ASCE Jan 06 journal article on "Racking Performance of Tall Unblocked Shear Walls".

http://www.apawood.org/pdfs/managed/Q260.pdf

http://ascelibrary.aip.org/vsearch/...s=JSENDH&key=DISPLAY&docID=1&page=1&chapter=0

 

[LowLax]

It's funny because they do provide values for unblocked shear walls made with gypsum board in the IBC.

I wish IBC shearwall design was more consistent between metal studs, plywood shearwalls, and gypsum.

 

[dik]

Might be that the loads for wallboard are considerably lower... dunno.

Dik

 

[boo1]

If the loads are low why can't tou use the unblocked diapham values for vertical walls?