Strength of structural elements for steel-framed houses

Steel-framed houses are made up of panels, which are composed of steel channels and sheathings such as gypsum boards and plywood with self-drilling screws. In design, the panels are generally designed such that only the channels can resist external forces, and the composite actions of the panels are scarcely considered. It is, however, observed in some cases that the panels show larger strength than those calculated based on the strength only of the channels. In this paper, especially for the panels composed of plywood and steel channels, the composite actions of both materials and the buckling restraint effect of the channels were studied based on experiments and analyses. New design methods taking into account the composite actions were proposed that make the steel houses more economical and improve the strength.