Engineering Structures 284 (2023) 115970

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Engineering Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct

Testing, modelling and analysis of full-scale cold-formed steel

center-sheathed shear walls in fire
Yonghui Xing a, Ou Zhao b, Weiyong Wang a, c, *
a
School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
b
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
c
Key Laboratory of New Technology for Construction of Cities in Mountain Area (Chongqing University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400045, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Cold-formed steel center-sheathed shear wall (CFSCSSW) is an innovative shear wall applied to multi-story cold-
Cold-formed steel formed steel buildings. In this study, six tests were carried out on CFSCSSWs, including one room temperature
Steel shear wall test to obtain load-bearing capacity and five fire tests to investigate the influence of the vertical load ratio, lateral
Fire resistance
load ratio, interior stud and aspect ratio on the fire behavior of the CFSCSSWs. Subsequently, finite element
Vertical load
Lateral load
models were developed to investigate the influence of various combinations of vertical and lateral loads and the
Finite element modeling sheathing thickness on the fire behavior of the wall. The research results showed that the temperature distri­
bution along the thickness of the wall section is quite non-uniform and the maximum difference reaches 65%
from the hot flange to the cold flange. The effect of the vertical load ratio on the fire resistance of the wall is
greater than that of the lateral load ratio. The interior stud plays a positive role in improving the fire resistance of
the wall. The aspect ratio has little influence on the fire resistance of the wall. The failure model of the wall
mainly depends on vertical or lateral loads as well as the aspect ratio. With the increase in the vertical load ratio,
the failure location of the wall moves down. Based on the parametric studies, a sheathing thickness of 0.8 mm
was recommended for CFSCSSWs.

1. Introduction
Cold-formed steel (CFS) structure has been widely used worldwide,
especially in North America, Europe, and Australia. Compared with
concrete structures, the cold-formed steel structure has a lighter weight
and better seismic performance, with the advantages of less construction
waste and recyclable materials [1]. Researchers conducted a large
number of tests on CFS composite walls [2–3] in the last few years. The
results indicated that the load-bearing capacity of CFS composite walls
mainly relies on the panel attached to the wall to provide lateral support
for the wall frame column. The application of CFS composite walls is
limited in low-rise and multi-story buildings due to their smaller lateral
stiffness. It is an expectation to use an innovative cold-formed steel
center-sheathed shear wall with a higher lateral force resistance to
promote the application of cold-formed steel structures in multi-story or
high-rise buildings.
Steel plate shear walls (SPSW) are a new lateral force-resisting sys­
tem developed in the 1970 s, which consists of an embedded steel plate
and restrained edge members. When subjected to lateral load, these
members mainly bear the vertical load and most of the bending moment.
The steel plate with considerable post-buckling strength can also bear
most of the lateral load. Therefore, steel plate shear walls are a double
lateral force-resisting system [4–5]. Considerable experimental in­
vestigations on the SPSW have been carried out in recent years [6–8].
The results showed that tension strips on the steel plate could provide
stable load-bearing capacity and lateral stiffness, contributing to its use
in high seismic intensity areas. Currently, the research mainly focuses on
the seismic performance of SPSWs where the concrete-filled square steel
tube column or H-shaped steel was adopted as the vertical edge mem­
bers, and welding was adopted to connect edge members with the steel
plate, but with the frequent failure of the SPSW at the welding position.
Rogers et al. [9] proposed an innovative CFS framed and sheathed
shear wall in which the sheathing was sandwiched by steel end studs
with a built-up section formed by two back-to-back C-shaped sections
and connected using self-tapping screws. The configuration addressed
the need for higher shear resistance and good ductility appropriate for
mid-rise buildings. However, studs with a C-shaped section may suffer
from torsion of the flange. In attempts to improve the torsion resistance

* Corresponding author at: School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China.
E-mail address: wywang@cqu.edu.cn (W. Wang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2023.115970
Received 8 December 2022; Received in revised form 5 March 2023; Accepted 7 March 2023
Available online 14 March 2023
0141-0296/© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Y. Xing et al. Engineering Structures 284 (2023) 115970

of end studs, an innovative cold-formed steel center-sheathed shear wall
(CFSCSSW) was proposed where the sheathing was clamped by end
studs with the hat-shaped section, and components are closely con­
nected using self-tapping screws to produce the pre-tightening force
[10]. Compared with conventional CFS walls, this configuration exhibits
higher load-bearing capacity, higher lateral stiffness, and better energy
dissipation performance by utilizing the post-buckling strength of the
sheathing [11–12]. However, higher requirements are put forward for
structural fire behavior with the increase in the building height.
Considerable experimental and numerical research was conducted to
investigate the fire behavior of channel columns and built-up studs
[13–15], whereas few studies have been conducted on the behavior of
CFS shear walls at elevated temperatures. Some fire experiments on non-
load-bearing and load-bearing CFS shear walls subjected to vertical
loading were conducted to investigate their thermal and structural
behavior [16–21]. A few investigations on the fire behavior of the SPSW
subjected to lateral loads [22] were also conducted, but with only the
use of finite element simulations. According to the above analysis, the
fire behavior of CFS shear walls and SPSWs subjected to the single
loading was investigated by some researchers, but a lack of insight into
the fire behavior of shear walls subjected to complex loading (e.g., the
combination of vertical and lateral loads). As well, available literature
could not be directly adopted to investigate the CFSCSSW subjected to
fire from one side.
In this paper, the fire behavior of CFSCSSWs was investigated when
subjected to a combination of vertical and lateral loads. A full-scale
shear wall test at room temperature was conducted to obtain its
lateral bearing capacity under vertical load, and then five full-scale fire
tests on CFSCSSWs subjected to a combination of vertical and lateral
loads were carried out to investigate the influence of the vertical load
ratio, the lateral load ratio, an interior stud, and the aspect ratio on the
fire behavior of the wall. Following the tests, finite element models were
developed to investigate the influence of critical factors, such as the
sheathing thickness, the vertical load ratio, and the lateral load ratio, on
the fire behavior of CFSCSSWs.
configuration and section dimensions of the specimen SJ-4 are shown in
Fig. 1. The specimen with 2250 mm in height and 910 mm in width
comprised end studs fabricated with two 40 × 70 × 120 × 2.5 (lip width
× flange width × web width × thickness) hat-shaped sections, interior
stud fabricated with two 70 × 70 × 28 × 1.5 (lip width × flange width ×
web width × thickness) hat-shaped sections, channel-shaped tracks
fabricated with two 70 × 104 × 2.5 (flange width × web width ×
thickness) channel sections, and a 0.8 mm thick sheathing sandwiched
by the studs. The sheathing is made of Q235 steel with a thickness of 0.8
mm, while other components are made of Q355 steel with a thickness of
2.5 mm.
The lengths of the end studs, the interior stud, and the tracks are
2250, 2030, and 500 mm, respectively. Hold-downs were used to fix the
end studs, whereas steel angles were adopted to connect the interior stud
to the channel-shaped tracks, which were then connected to the
sheathing through connecting plates. ST5.5 self-drilling screws were
used to fasten different components to the steel sheathing at a spacing of
50 mm along the length direction.
Specimens SJ-1, SJ-2, SJ-3, and SJ-5 have the same configuration as
the specimen SJ-4 except for the absence of the interior stud, whereas
specimen SJ-6 has the same configuration as the specimen SJ-1, but with
the change of the wall height from 2250 mm to 2700 mm. The details of
the specimens are listed in Table 1. The vertical peak load for the
specimens at room temperature was obtained from the literature [23].
The load ratio refers to the ratio of the applied load to the peak load.
The fire tests were conducted on five specimens. Specimens SJ-2 and
SJ-3 with the same vertical load ratio were respectively subjected to the
lateral load ratio of 0.4 and 0.6 to investigate the effect of the lateral load
ratio on the fire behavior of the CFSCSSW, whereas specimens SJ-5 and
Table 1
Details of specimens.
Specimen Aspect ratio / Vertical load Lateral load Interior
No. Height (mm) ratio / Load (N) ratio / Load (N) stud

SJ-1 2.5 / 2250 0.3 / 345,000 / /

2. Test scheme SJ-2 2.5 / 2250 0.3 / 345,000 0.4 / 40,400 /
SJ-3 2.5 / 2250 0.3 / 345,000 0.6 / 60,600 /
SJ-4 2.5 / 2250 0.3 / 396,300 0.6 / 64,800 Yes
2.1. Details of specimens SJ-5 2.5 / 2250 0.5 / 575,000 0.4 / 30,800 /
SJ-6 3.0 / 2700 0.5 / 575,000 0.4 / 27,200 /
Built-up hat-shaped section studs were adopted as its end studs. The

Fig. 1. Specimen details (in mm).

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Y. Xing et al. Engineering Structures 284 (2023) 115970

SJ-2 were compared to investigate the impact of the vertical load ratio (b). The thermocouples were designated according to their location (R
on the fire behavior of the CFSCSSW when the lateral load ratio remains and L represent the right and left side, respectively; B, M, and T repre­
unchanged. Specimen SJ-4 was subjected to the same vertical and lateral sent the bottom, middle, and top, respectively) and the position within
load ratio as specimen SJ-3, with the only difference being the use of the the stud section (number 1–3 represent the cold side, while 4–6 repre­
interior stud, to study the influence of the interior stud on the fire sent the hot heating side). It is noteworthy that LM-X (blue) and RM-X
behavior. Specimens SJ-6 and SJ-5 with different aspect ratios were (red) have the same number of thermocouples, but with a difference
subjected to the same vertical and lateral load ratio for the investigation between them in the numbering sequence.
of the influence of aspect ratio on the fire behavior of the wall.
2.5. Test procedures and wall capacity at ambient temperature
2.2. Material properties
A room temperature test for specimen SJ-1 was conducted to obtain
Three tensile coupon tests were conducted using an MTS 810 Uni­ the lateral load-bearing capacity of the CFSCSSW under a vertical load
versal Testing Machine with a maximum capacity of 100 kN according to ratio of 0.3. The bottom track of the wall was bolted to the base support
GB/T 1591–2008 [24], which were extracted from the sheathing and the beam, whereas the loading beam at the top of the wall was constrained
web of the hat-shaped section members, respectively. to the out-of-plane movement and rotation. A 100 t vertical jack and a
The elastic modulus (Es), yield stress (fy), ultimate stress (fu), and 50 t lateral jack were utilized to apply the load. The vertical load was
ultimate strain (εu) were obtained, as reported in Table 2. It was found first applied on the wall with an increase of 50 kN, and then maintained
that the elastic modulus values were slightly discrete, which might be for 2 min upon each increment. After the vertical load was applied until
attributed to the small difference in the specimen thickness. the load given in Table 1, the lateral load started to be applied with an
increase of 10 kN until the failure of the wall.
2.3. Fire test set-up According to room test results and finite element simulation pre­
sented in the latter of this paper, the lateral load-bearing capacity of the
An electric furnace assembled by resistance-wire heating boards and CFSCSSW reached 101 kN at the lateral displacement of 84 mm when
insulation boards, which were anchored using steel rods, was used in the subjected to the vertical load ratio of 0.3, the failure location of which
fire tests. The furnace chamber has a clear height of 2400 mm (for was located at the end stud on the compressive side, with the formation
specimen SJ-6, the clear height is 2700 mm), a clear width of 1200 mm, of the multiple tension strips on the steel sheathing contributing to the
and a clear depth of 200 mm, as shown in Fig. 2 (a). The batt insulation improvement of the load-bearing capacity.
instead of the insulation board was covered on the top of the furnace to
prevent heat loss due to the limited space which was also used to fill the 2.6. Tests procedures at elevated temperatures
gap between the boards. As shown in Fig. 2 (b), the specimen was bolted
to a base support beam, whereas a loading beam was bolted to the top of In this study, all the specimens in the fire tests were exposed to fire
the wall to distribute the applied load from the 100 t vertical jack and 50 exposure from one side, with the used ISO 834 heating curve given in Eq.
t lateral jack. Hollow square steel pipes were placed at each side of the [25]:
loading beam to limit its out-of-plane movement, with the tetrafluoro
Tt − 20 = 345log10 (8t + 1) (1)
plates to reduce the friction between the loading beam and pipes.
where t is the elapsed time in minutes; Tt is the furnace temperature
2.4. Measuring instrument (◦ C) at time t.
Prior to the furnace heating up, the phased loading method was
Fig. 3 shows the locations and layout of LVDT displacement trans­ adopted in order to stabilize the axial and lateral displacement of the
ducers with a range of 250 mm and thermocouples with a maximum specimen: the vertical load was applied on the wall with an increment of
range of 1200 ◦ C. D1, D2, and D3 were placed on the end studs to gauge 40 kN, and then maintained for 2 min upon each increment, followed by
the out-of-plane displacement of the wall, whereas V1 was placed on the the application of the lateral load with an increment of 5 kN. The applied
top of the loading beam to measure the vertical displacement of the wall. vertical and lateral loads were maintained constantly until the sharp
H1 and H2 were placed on the end of the loading beam, with H3 being increase in the corresponding lateral displacement.
placed at the mid-points of the end stud, to measure the lateral
displacement of the wall. 3. Test results
Type-K thermocouples were employed to record the temperature
evolution of end studs and sheathing of each specimen during the fire 3.1. Furnace temperature
tests. Six thermocouples were placed within the stud section at the mid-
point of the wall, while two were placed within the stud section at the To know if the furnace temperature curve could catch up with ISO
top and bottom of the wall, with one on the sheathing, as shown in Fig. 3 834 curve, the empty furnace without specimens was covered using the
batt insulation to obtain the temperature evolution inside the furnace
Table 2 before the test. Fig. 4 illustrates the temperature curve of the empty
Tensile coupon test results. furnace temperature test and during the test, in which F1, F2, and F3
Material Specimens Elastic Yield Ultimate Ultimate represent the temperature measuring location inside the furnace; B-F1
modulus stress stress strain and B’-F1 denote the location of F1 in the furnace temperature detection
Es (MPa) fy (MPa) fu (MPa) εu (%) before the test and during the test, respectively. As seen in Fig. 4, the
Q235 Coupon 1 178,489 380 475 30.51 temperature inside the furnace caught up with the ISO 834 curve after
Coupon 2 189,462 380 475 30.23 16 min with a temperature difference smaller than 50 ◦ C between the
Coupon 3 211,801 380 475 31.50 three measuring locations, while the temperature failed to catch up with
Mean 193,250 380 475 30.75
the ISO 834 curve during the test because the wall was exposed to fire
value
Q355 Coupon 1 220,141 420 495 29.01 from one side, which led to the heat loss.
Coupon 2 221,148 420 490 27.52
Coupon 3 212,391 410 490 29.51 3.2. Specimen temperature
Mean 217,893 417 492 28.68
value
Fig. 5 shows the temperature evolution of hot and cold flanges. “HF”

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Y. Xing et al. Engineering Structures 284 (2023) 115970

(a) Furnace (b) Specimen

Fig. 2. Test setup.

Fig. 3. Displacement meters and thermocouple setup.

(Hot flange) in Fig. 5 is the temperature versus heating time curve of the
surface of location 5 in Fig. 3 (b), while “CF” (Cold flange) is that of the
surface of location 2 in Fig. 3 (b). The temperature at the bottom of the
furnace is slightly lower than that at the middle and top for either cold or
hot flange, as hot air at the bottom always moves upward. For all
specimens, the maximum temperature differences between the cold
flanges and between the hot flanges along the height of the end stud are
53 ◦ C and 58 ◦ C, respectively. The temperature evolution of cold flanges
at different heights for each specimen is similar, and that of hot flanges
at different heights shows the same trend, indicating that the section
temperature along the height of end studs is evenly distributed.
Table 3 lists the section temperature of the end studs at failure. Lo­
cations 2, 3, 4, and 5, shown in Fig. 3(b), were adopted to analyze the
section temperature distribution of end studs due to the symmetry of the
temperature. The temperature reduction ratio refers to the ratio of the
absolute value of the temperature difference between two steel surfaces
to the highest of them. The average temperature reduction ratio from
locations 5 to 3 is 11.22%, 65.21%, and 24.39%, respectively, indicating
that the heat loss reaches 65.21% during the temperature transfer from
the hot flange to the cold flange. The sharp decrease in the temperature
is attributed to the larger heat transfer between the cold flanges and
outside air, and the significant temperature difference can cause the
buckling of the hot flanges prior to that of the cold flanges under vertical
loads [23].
3.3. Transverse and axial displacement
For vertical load-bearing members, the failure is considered to occur

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Y. Xing et al.
Fig. 4. Heating curve.
when any of the following conditions are met, according to the Chinese
standard for fire-resistance tests (GBT 9978.1–2008) [26]:
h adequate tension for the end studs on the compressive side, were formed
V= mm (2)
100
dV 3h
= mm/min (3)
dt 1000
where h represents the height of the specimen. V represents the axial
compression deformation of the specimen. t represents the time that the
fire test lasts. dv/dt represents the axial compression deformation rate.
However, the existing codes only provided the failure criterion for
vertical load-bearing members, whereas no codes and relative literature
could be found for the failure criterion of lateral load-bearing walls.
Therefore, when the lateral load cannot be kept constant during the fire
test, the wall is regarded as a failure.
Fig. 6 (a)-(e) exhibits lateral, axial, and out-of-plane displacements
versus the temperature of the specimens (the temperature of the speci­
mens refers to the temperature of the hot flange). Fig. 6 (f) compares the
lateral displacements between the specimens. Table 4 lists the critical
temperature and failure time of specimens. Tcr denotes the temperature
at which the specimen fails, i.e., the critical temperature, and it is
defined as the average temperature of the hot flange; tcr denotes the
failure time corresponding to the critical temperature. The positive
value of the axial displacement V1 represents the upward displacement
for specimens. The positive value of the out-of-plane displacement
represents the bending towards the cold side. The vertical and lateral
loads keep constant during the fire tests, the values of which are listed in
Table 1.
The values of Tcr and tcr for specimen SJ-2 are 607 ◦ C and 24.6 min,
respectively, while the values of Tcr and tcr for specimen SJ-3 are 590 ◦ C
and 21.3 min, respectively, indicating that the increase in the lateral
load ratio from 0.4 to 0.6 results in the reduction of the critical tem­
perature and time by 2.8% and 13.4%, respectively. Additionally, as
shown in Fig. 6 (f), the lateral displacement of specimen SJ-3 experi­
ences a sharper decrease than that of specimen SJ-2, with a big gap
between the two displacement curves, which is due to the larger P-Δ
effect caused by the increase in the lateral load. The values of Tcr and tcr
for specimen SJ-4 are 627 ◦ C and 25.1 min, respectively, which are 6.3%
and 17.8% larger than those of specimen SJ-3 because the interior stud
provides the out-of-plane constraint for the sheathing. The values of Tcr
and tcr for specimen SJ-5 respectively reduce by 9.9% and 23.8%
compared with those of specimen SJ-2, the reduction degree of which is
larger when the vertical load ratio is greater than the lateral load ratio,
5
Engineering Structures 284 (2023) 115970
indicating that the vertical load ratio has a greater influence on the fire
behavior of the wall. In other words, the increment in the vertical load
ratio could amplify the influence of the lateral load ratio on the fire
behavior of the wall, which was caused by the larger additional bending
moment. The values of Tcr and tcr for specimen SJ-6 respectively increase
by 6.6% and 10.8% compared with those of specimen SJ-5, demon­
strating that the increased aspect ratio does not weaken the fire behavior
of the wall because the upward expansion force for specimen SJ-6 is
larger than that for specimen SJ-5 (displacement V1 of specimen SJ-6 is
1.6 times that of specimen SJ-5, as shown in Fig. 6 (d) and (e), indicating
that it has larger expansion force). When the vertical load keeps constant
during the fire test, the increase in the upward expansion force can
reduce the influence of the vertical load on the fire behavior of the wall,
i.e., the actual load ratio of specimen SJ-6 during the fire test is smaller
than that of specimen SJ-5.
Scatter point curves in Fig. 6 (f) represent the ratio of the displace­
ment H1 to H3 for each specimen, which are observed to be horizontal,
indicating that the upper half of the end stud on the compressive side has
no deformation.
3.4. Damage and failure mode
Fig. 7 shows the failure mode of the wall subjected to the combina­
tion of vertical and lateral loads. It can be observed in Fig. 7 (a)- (d) that
the multiple tension strips on the sheathing of the wall, providing
when subjected to lateral load. However, the screws used to connect the
sheathing with the end studs were loose with the increased temperature,
leading to the weakened effect of the tension strip, followed by the
failure of the end stud on the compressive side. Additionally, the tension
strips led the end stud on the loading side to form the arcuate bending
toward the loading direction as the increased lateral displacement, and
subsequently, the top of the end stud buckled under the vertical load.
Fig. 7 (e) exhibited the wall deformation of specimen SJ-6 during the
high-temperature test, while Fig. 7 (f) exhibited its failure model after
the test was completed. In the initial heating stage, the tension strips
were observed on the sheathing, whereas they disappeared near the
destruction of end studs, which was attributed to the increased upward
expansion displacement of the wall. As shown in Fig. 6 (f), the lateral
displacement sharply dropped before about 120 ◦ C, while beyond this
temperature, it kept a slow decline until the failure of the wall due to the
increased upward expansion displacement, causing the tension strips
not to be fully formed at failure.
The buckling location of the end stud on the compressive side for
specimen SJ-3, which is the same as that of specimen SJ-4, is lower than
that of specimen SJ-2, with the reason that the larger lateral load ratio
could result in the larger bending moment for the bottom of the end stud,
indicating that the increase in the lateral load could cause the buckling
location of end studs to move down. Compared with specimen SJ-3, the
sheathing in specimen SJ-4 was divided by the interior stud used to
constrain its out-of-plane buckling into two parts, leading to more ten­
sion strips improving the stiffness and load-bearing capacity of the wall.
However, the buckling location of the end stud was not changed,
demonstrating that the failure model of the wall depended on applied
vertical and lateral loads instead of the interior stud. When the applied
vertical load exceeded the lateral load, specimen SJ-5 buckled more
severely at the top of the end stud on the loading side than at the bottom
of the end stud on the compressive side, opposite to the phenomenon
that appeared in specimens SJ-2 – SJ-4. Compared with specimen SJ-5,
the failure of specimen SJ-6 was located at the bottom of end studs
owing to the tension strips not being fully formed, indicating that the
increase in aspect ratio might cause the transfer of the failure location to
the bottom of the wall.
Y. Xing et al. Engineering Structures 284 (2023) 115970

Fig. 5. Temperature evolution of cold and hot flanges.

4. Finite element modeling
4.1. FE model
The ABAQUS software was adopted to simulate test results and
conduct the parametric analysis. The thermal analysis was first con­
ducted to obtain the temperature field of the wall, followed by the
conducted thermal-force analysis to obtain displacement results and the
failure model. In the thermal analysis, the DS4 shell element (with 11
and 12 for active degrees of freedom, linear interpolation in each di­
rection, and full integration element) was used to simulate the CFS,
while the S4R shell element (with 1–6 for active degrees of freedom,

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Y. Xing et al. Engineering Structures 284 (2023) 115970

Table 3 first buckling mode result of the wall was adopted as the initial geo­
Section temperature of the studs at failure. metric imperfection with a magnitude of L/1000 [30].
Specimen Temperature Location Location Location Location
distribution 2 3 4 5 4.2. Mechanical constitutive models
SJ-2 Temperature / 197 244 567 607
◦
C The elastic modulus and yield strength of the steel obtained from the
Temperature / 47 323 40 room temperature test were listed in Table 2, whereas those at elevated
difference temperatures and the thermal expansion could be computed according
Reduction ratio / 19.26 56.96 6.58
/%
to EC 3 (EN 1993–1-2:2005) [31]. Poisson’s ratio of CFS at room tem­
SJ-3 Temperature / 110 158 504 590 perature is 0.3, which kept the constant value at elevated temperatures.
◦
C Fig. 10 shows the thermal and mechanical properties of materials at
Temperature / 48 346 86 elevated temperatures, including the specific heat, thermal conductiv­
difference / ◦ C
ity, and so on [31].
Reduction ratio / 30.38 68.65 14.57
/%
SJ-4 Temperature / 179 203 559 627 4.3. Verification of the FE model
◦
C
Temperature / 24 356 68
4.3.1. Static load capacity
difference / ◦ C
Reduction ratio / 11.82 63.68 10.84
Fig. 11 plots the load-bearing capacity curve at room temperature by
/% test and simulation, respectively. Fig. 12 exhibits a comparison of failure
SJ-5 Temperature / 110 156 494 547 mode obtained by both test and finite element modeling. As shown in
◦
C Fig. 11, the FE result of specimen SJ-1 fitted well with test results, with
Temperature / 46 338 53
only the relative error of 3.96% for the maximum horizontal load. The
difference / ◦ C
Reduction ratio / 29.48 68.42 9.68 error might be partly attributed to the small difference in the boundary
/% condition between the test and FE (e.g., the slight out-of-plane rotation
SJ-6 Temperature / 109 158 499 583 of the wall during the test due to the gap between the wall and the
◦
C displacement limiting).
Temperature / 49 341 84
difference / ◦ C
For specimen SJ-1, the lateral stiffness was higher in the experiment
Reduction ratio / 31.01 68.33 14.41 and then was higher in the FE model. This fluctuation of the stiffness was
/% attributed to the fact that the displacement at the moment when the
Average reduction ratio / % 24.39 65.21 11.22 sheathing of the wall in the FE generated the tension strips and the end
stud failed was not slightly synchronized with the experimental wall.
linear interpolation in each direction, and reduced integration element) Additionally, the FE model has a similar wall failure location and the
was adopted in the room temperature and thermal-force coupling number of tension strips to the test wall, indicating that the FE model
analysis. The furnace temperature obtained from the test was used in can effectively simulate the test results. Thus, the load-bearing capacity
ABAQUS with the ambient temperature of 20 ◦ C, where Absolute zero of other specimens was obtained through the FE simulation, which of
temperature and Stephen Boltzmann constants were defined as − 273 ◦ C specimens SJ-4 -SJ-6 were 108 kN, 77 kN, and 68 kN, respectively. The
and 5.67 × 10-8 W/(m2⋅K4), respectively. The convective heat transfer wall with the interior stud had higher stiffness and load-bearing capacity
coefficient is 25 W/(m2⋅K) on the fire-exposed side, and the radiative than others, indicating that the interior stud had good lateral resistance
heat flux emissivity is 0.7 [27], which is related to the material of the performance.
wall. Due to the heat exchange between the temperature of the wall
surface towards the cold side and the air, the convective heat transfer 4.3.2. Thermal and structural analysis
coefficient is set to 10 W/(m2⋅K) with a surface emissivity of 0.7 [27]. Fig. 13 (a) compares the section temperature between the FE and
The stud cavity was divided by the sheathing into two parts, leading to test, where the “T” represents test results, while the “FE” represents
the limited depth of the stud cavity (70 mm). Considering this, the air finite element results. Temperatures of RM-1 and RM-3 as well as RM-4
inside the stud cavity was assumed as static air, and convective heat and RM-6 in the FE were similar due to the symmetry of the section and
transfer within the cavity was not considered, while the cavity radiation temperature. The temperature evolution curves obtained from the FE
was introduced with an emissivity of 0.7 on all cavity surfaces [28]. The closely followed those measured from the test with a maximum error of
initial and maximum time increments were 5 and 20 in the heat analysis, 9.5% for the temperature during the fire test, indicating that the FE
respectively, and 0.01 and 0.02 in other analyses, respectively. The model can be used to simulate the temperature distribution of the wall.
iterative solution method was the full Newton Raphson with an error Fig. 14 exhibits a comparison of failure mode obtained by both test and
tolerance of 0.5% in Rαn and that of 10-2 in Cαn . In time increment, I0 = 4 finite element modeling.
As shown in Fig. 13 (b) and Fig. 14, the displacement curves and
and IR = 8, and other convergence criterions adopted the default value.
failure model obtained from the FE are similar to those obtained from
The heating curve in the test could not represent the actual fire situation;
the test, and they have a similar critical temperature, with a maximum
thus, the ISO 834 curve was adopted in the parametric analysis.
difference of less than 10%, indicating that the FE model can be used to
In the thermal-force coupling analysis, the top and bottom surfaces of
simulate the structural response of the wall.
the wall were coupled to a reference point using the constraint
“Coupling”; the fixed boundary was adopted at the bottom surface,
5. Parametric analysis
while only vertical and lateral movement, as well as the rotation around
the loading direction, were allowed at the top surface. “Fasteners” were
The sheathing thickness and various combinations of vertical and
used to simulate the self-tapping screws (including the connection be­
lateral loads may result in different fire behavior. Due to the limited test
tween the studs and the plate), in which the load-slip curve of the
cost, nine FE models were developed to study the influence of vertical
connector was presented in Fig. 8 [29], and the surface-to-surface con­
and lateral loads with a range of 0.3–0.7 as well as the sheathing
tact was adopted. Hold-downs were tied to end studs, as shown in Fig. 9.
thickness with a range of 0.6 – 1.2 on the fire behavior of the wall. In
A 25 mm × 25 mm mesh size was selected for studs and the steel
Tables 4 -6, the specimens were marked “SJ- Sheathing thickness-
sheathing, while a 35 mm mesh size was used for the track mesh. The
Vertical load ratio-Lateral load ratio”; for example, SJ-0.8–0.3–0.5

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Y. Xing et al.
Fig. 6. Axial and lateral displacement of specimens versus temperature.
denoted that the specimen with a sheathing thickness of 0.8 was sub­
jected to a vertical load ratio of 0.3 and a lateral load ratio of 0.5.
5.1. Sheathing thickness
Four FE models with different sheathing thicknesses were employed
to investigate the effect of the sheathing thickness on the fire behavior of
8
Engineering Structures 284 (2023) 115970
the wall. As shown in Table 5, as the sheathing thickness decreased, the
failure time increased by 4.6%, 4.4%, and 1.1%, respectively; the critical
temperature increased by 2.0%, 2.2%, and 1.2%, respectively, indi­
cating that the increment in the sheathing thickness did not effectively
improve the critical temperature and failure time of the wall. The reason
is that the lateral force was applied according to the load ratio rather
than the fixed load in the fire analysis, i.e., the applied lateral load in the
Y. Xing et al. Engineering Structures 284 (2023) 115970

Table 4
Test results at room and elevated temperatures.
Specimen No. Aspect ratio Vertical load ratio Lateral load ratio Interior stud Heating curve Pcr (kN) Tcr (◦ C) tcr (min)

SJ-1 2.5 0.3 / / / 101 / /

SJ-2 2.5 0.3 0.4 / ISO 834 101 607 24.6
SJ-3 2.5 0.3 0.6 / ISO 834 101 590 21.3
SJ-4 2.5 0.3 0.6 Yes ISO 834 108 627 25.1
SJ-5 2.5 0.5 0.4 / ISO 834 77 547 18.7
SJ-6 3.0 0.5 0.4 / ISO 834 68 583 21.9

Note: Pcr denotes the lateral peak load; Tcr denotes the critical temperature; tcr denotes the failure time.

(a) SJ-2 (b) SJ-3 (c) SJ-4

(d) SJ-5 (e) SJ-6-1 (f) SJ-6-2

Fig. 7. Failure mode.

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Y. Xing et al. Engineering Structures 284 (2023) 115970

stud. However, when the sheathing thickness was smaller than 0.8 mm,
the fire behavior of the wall was improved so slightly that it can be
ignored, and the thinner sheathing might lead to its tearing subjected to
lateral load and fire. Therefore, a sheathing thickness of 0.8 mm was
recommended in the CFSCSSW.

5.2. Vertical load ratio

Three combinations (i.e., the vertical load ratio is less, equal, and
greater than the lateral load ratio, respectively) were designed to
compare their difference in the fire behavior. As shown in Table 6, the
vertical load ratio is 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7, respectively, whereas the lateral
load ratio is 0.5. The increase in the vertical load ratio from 0.3 to 0.7
caused the critical temperature to reduce by 16.5% and 49.3%,
respectively, demonstrating that when the vertical load ratio was greater
than the lateral load ratio, the critical temperature showed a maximum
reduction ratio, which was because the more significant vertical load
could cause the larger additional bending moment, and the tension
strips not to perform their enough function.
Fig. 8. Thermal and mechanical properties of materials at elevated
temperatures. 5.3. Lateral load ratio

As shown in Table 7, the lateral load ratio of 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7, the
same as the vertical load ratios listed in Table 6, were chosen to compare

Fig. 9. FE model.

fire analysis increased with the increase in the lateral load-bearing ca­
pacity of the wall at room temperature when the lateral load ratio
remained unchanged. Additionally, the thinner sheathing could form
Fig. 11. Load-bearing capacity curve at room temperature.
the tension strips earlier, avoiding the premature bending of the end

Fig. 10. Thermal and mechanical properties of materials at elevated temperatures.

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Y. Xing et al.
Fig. 12. Comparison of failure mode.
Fig. 13. Simulation results compared to the test results.
the influence of different load combinations on the fire behavior of the
wall. Compared with SJ-0.8–0.3–0.5 listed in Table 6, SJ-0.8–0.5–0.3
has lower critical temperature and failure time; Compared with SJ-
0.8–0.7–0.5 listed in Table 6, the same trend was found in SJ-
0.8–0.5–0.7, indicating that when the vertical load ratio and lateral load
ratio were interchanged, the vertical load ratio greater than the lateral
load ratio could cause the poor fire behavior. The increase in the lateral
load ratio from 0.3 to 0.7 caused the critical temperature to reduce by
13.5% and 25.7%, respectively. Compared with the test results of
specimens SJ-2 and SJ-3, the lateral load ratio in the numerical simu­
lation results had a relatively larger impact on the fire behavior, which
was due to their different vertical load ratio. It can be known from
Section 3.3 that the increment in the vertical load ratio could amplify the
influence of the lateral load ratio on the fire behavior of the wall, causing
that the small displacement increment also produces a relatively larger
additional bending moment.
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Engineering Structures 284 (2023) 115970
6. Conclusions
(1) The temperature distribution within the section is non-uniform
when the wall is subjected to fire from one side; the tempera­
ture difference reaches 11.22%, 65.21%, and 24.39% from the
hot flange to the cold flange, respectively.
(2) With the vertical load keeping constant, the increased lateral load
could cause the buckling location of end studs to move down. The
increase in the aspect ratio could cause the transfer of the failure
location to the bottom of the wall owing to the tension strips not
being fully formed.
(3) The combination of the vertical load ratio greater than the lateral
load ratio could cause worse fire resistance of the wall because
the larger lateral load ratio led to the weakened effect of the
tension strips.
(4) An interior stud could improve 17.8% of critical temperature and
6.3% of failure time, which was attributed to more tension strips
in the wall with the interior stud.
Y. Xing et al. Engineering Structures 284 (2023) 115970

Fig. 14. Comparison of the failure model of SJ-3 with that in the FE.

Table 5
Influence of the sheathing thickness on the fire behavior.
Specimen No. Sheathing thickness Vertical Load ratio (ng) Lateral Load ratio (nh) Critical temperature Failure time
tw (mm) Tcr (◦ C) tcr (min)

SJ-0.6–0.3–0.6 0.6 0.3 0.6 569 9.6

SJ-0.8–0.3–0.6 0.8 562 9.5
SJ-1.0–0.3–0.6 1.0 550 9.1
SJ-1.2–0.3–0.6 1.2 539 8.7

Table 6
Influence of the vertical load on the fire behavior.
Specimen No. Sheathing thickness Vertical Load ratio (ng) Lateral Load ratio (nh) Critical temperature Failure time
tw (mm) Tcr (◦ C) tcr (min)

SJ-0.8–0.3–0.5 0.8 0.3 0.5 593 10.4

SJ-0.8–0.5–0.5 0.5 495 7.8
SJ-0.8–0.7–0.5 0.7 251 3.7

Table 7
Influence of the lateral load ratio on the fire behavior.
Specimen No. Sheathing thickness Vertical Load ratio (ng) Lateral Load ratio (nh) Critical temperature Failure time
tw (mm) Tcr (◦ C) tcr (min)

SJ-0.8–0.5–0.3 0.8 0.5 0.3 572 9.7

SJ-0.8–0.5–0.5 0.5 495 7.8
SJ-0.8–0.5–0.7 0.7 368 5.4

(5) The increase in the aspect ratio did not weaken the fire resistance
of the wall due to the influence of the upward expansion force,
and when the aspect ratio increased from 2.5 to 3.0, the critical
temperature and failure time were improved by 6.6% and 10.8%,
respectively.
(6) The increment in the sheathing thickness did not effectively
improve the critical temperature and time of the wall. A
sheathing thickness of 0.8 mm was recommended for the
CFSCSSW.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Yonghui Xing: Writing – original draft, Formal analysis, Investiga­
tion. Ou Zhao: Data curation, Writing – review & editing. Weiyong
Wang: Supervision, Methodology, Writing – review & editing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial

12
Y. Xing et al.
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Grant No.: 51878096) and the National
Program on Key Research and Development Project (Grant No.:
2019YFD1101003). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommen­
dations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the sponsors.
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