Behaviour of wood skeleton - OSB cladding shear-walls under monotonic and cyclic loading

House constructions in Europe are going through important transformations. Light framed constructions, both using steel and wood, are gaining more and more market share. As these construction techniques are new for most European countries there is a generalized need for codes of practice to be available for the design and detailing of such structures. Furthermore, some of the regionsin Europe are also seismically active, and in these regions thereisneed for earthquake design specifications, which are non existent at present. The present paper describes a part of an experimental investigation undertaken to determine the lateral load bearing capacity of wood-framed OSB-sheeted wall-panels utilized in housing applications. In the first phase components of the wood-frame panels were tested and a FE modelling attempt was made to determine the load bearing capacity of entire wall-panels. The preparation phase of the wall experiments is also briefly presented.