Design criteria for seam and sheeting-to-framing connections of cold-formed steel shear panels

In recent years important research activity was undertaken to determine the earthquake performance of light gauge steel house structures. Usually, studies approach the problem of earthquake performance trough experiments on wall panels conducted either under monotonic or cyclic loads. All studies underline the overwhelming importance that the behavior of the connections has in determining the overall performance of the wall panels. However, these studies focused on the global behavior of the panel and did not try to characterize the behavior and provide design criteria for connections, as components of the structural system. The present paper attempts to fulfill this gap.