Cold–formed thin–walled steel walls filled with phosphogypsum subjected to lateral cyclic loading: testing and analysis

In order to improve the shear capacity and seismic performance of cold–formed thin–walled steel (CFS) walls, in this research, a novel CFS wall filled with phosphogypsum (PG) was developed. Taking PG filling area and covering the wall with sheathing as design parameters, four full–scale test specimens were designed and constructed. Failure mode and seismic performance indexes of each specimen were investigated by performing cyclic loading tests and the effect of PG filler on CFS wall seismic performance was evaluated. Research results showed that PG filler significantly improved the seismic performance and shear capacity of CFS walls. Importantly, the proposed wall presented a remarkable dual–mechanism of lateral force resistance, which was provided by PG filler and wall sheathings, respectively. In addition, analytical models were developed for the calculation of the shear capacity and lateral stiffness of the proposed walls, which presented high prediction accuracy.