Lateral load carrying capacities of particleboard shear walls made by gluing with timber studs

Particleboard shear walls were developed and their lateral load carrying capacities were evaluated. The shear walls were made by connecting particleboards and timber studs with polyurethane (PUR) or nails. Seven types of particleboard shear wall specimens were manufactured by varying the wood species, size of the timber studs, and number of particleboards. The size of the shear wall specimens was 2.4 m × 2.7 m, and the bottom of the shear wall was fixed to the steel frame of the test equipment using hold-downs and angle brackets. As a result, the lateral load carrying capacities of the glued particleboard shear wall (73.4 to 75.6 kN/m) were 3.2 times higher than that of the typical light-frame shear wall and higher than the experimental data of the cross-laminated timber (CLT) wall in the CLT handbook. All glued specimens failed at the hold-down and angle bracket, and there was no damage at the glue layer between a particleboard and timber studs. The shear performance with different combinations of species, stud size, and number of particleboards was not significantly different, and the shear strength of the nailed specimen was approximately 20% lower than that of the glued specimen.