NSF has awarded the CFSRC team of Tara Hutchinson (UCSD) and Ben Schafer (JHU) a new multi-year project to investigate Seismic Resiliency of Repetitively Framed Mid-Rise Cold-Formed Steel Buildings. The NSF award announcements are linked here for UCSD and JHU.
The response of these building systems under earthquake loads and, in particular, the contribution of portions of the building system not specifically designated by the design engineers to resist earthquake loads are not fully understood. This project will undertake a series of experiments and complementary numerical modeling to characterize the relationship between the designated lateral force resisting system, i.e., the shear walls, and the complete CFS building system response, including the impact of the gravity walls, finish materials, and interior partitions, during seismic events. Taken in totality, this project will advance fundamental understanding and design methodologies for CFS building systems under extreme natural hazards.