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Evaluation of direct stucco-woodframe connectors in improved stucco shear walls

University of British Columbia

Due to the weakness of the connections between woodframe and stucco, a large number of woodframe residential buildings with stucco as a shear resisting member were damaged during past earthquakes. This has resulted in the shear resistance of stucco being reduced in a number of building codes. A number of research projects have been conducted on stucco shear walls since then and the results from all research projects indicated that stucco separates from the wood frame due to the weakness of the connections between the wood frame and stucco when subjected to lateral cyclic loading. On the other hand, when properly attached to wood frame, stucco can have a significant contribution to the stiffness of the structure. A special connector was developed to provide direct shear connection between stucco and woodframe structures. The device is designed to have adequate stiffness and strength, and to act as a ductile “fuse” so that stucco shear walls will have a well defined strength and significant ductility. As part of the current research project, numerous tests were conducted on stucco-connector-woodframe elements to study the shear connectors, and provide important design information. Tests were also conducted on 8 ft by 8 ft stucco wall panels with and without the special connectors. The tests show that stucco shear walls with the connectors have much greater shear strength and ductility than regular stucco walls. The tests also show that stucco walls with the shear connectors can achieve similar strengths and similar ductility as plywood shear walls.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-03-03

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/5415

Civil Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/