Connections in stainless steel frame shear walls sheathed with ply-bamboo panels

This paper delves into an experimental study on the load-bearing capabilities of self-drilling screw connections in stainless steel studs sheathed with ply-bamboo panels. A total of 92 connection specimens were tested employing monotonic and cyclic loading protocols. The performance of the stainless steel-ply-bamboo connections was studied under various conditions with respect to different ply-bamboo sheathing panels, steel studs, screw features, end distances and loading rates. The failure modes and performance parameters were discussed. The test results obtained in this study indicated that double directional ply-bamboo was lower than unidirectional flat pressing ply-bamboo in terms of tensile properties, and phosphating steel screws (PTS) exhibited higher nominal bending yield moment and yield strength compared to stainless steel screws (STS). In addition, the ultimate deformation of PTS connections was lower than that of STS connections, and the ductility coefficient of PTS connections was higher than that of STS connections. The unidirectional flat pressing ply-bamboo (UF) sheathing connections had a higher tensile strength than double directional ply-bamboo (DL) sheathing connections, but the peak load, the ultimate displacement and the ductility coefficient of the UF sheathing connections exhibited a reduction compared to DL sheathing connections. Stainless steel stud connections had some disadvantages over cold-formed steel stud connections in terms of elastic stiffness and ductility coefficient, but it improved the peak load and ultimate displacement compared to cold-formed steel stud connections. Based on the connection test information, correlation analysis and analytical modeling were conducted on the self-drilling screw connections within lightweight stainless steel-ply-bamboo shear walls.