Experimental Investigation of Lateral Behaviour of UHS Steel Bracing Wall

In order to improve structural performances and have higher buildings a new Lightweight Steel (L W S) system, made of Cold Formed Steel (C P S) profiles, was developed at the University of Naples "Federico 11", in cooperation with the Italian company Lamieredil S.p.A.. In particular, the innovative Lateral Force Resisting System (L F R S) mainly consists of C F S frame (studs and tracks) braced by " V " shaped pre-tensioned Ultra High Strength (U H S) steel bars. The bracing was designed to be able to limit global displacement of structure, working as elastic spring, and to dissipate seismic energy by yielding. To prove the effectiveness ofthe new system, an extensive experimental campaign has been carried out at the Lab ofthe Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture, University of Naples "Federico 11". After a brief description ofthe new system, this paper focuses on full scale wall monotonie and cyclic tests.