Today the TW Group released their Final Report on the AISI and SFIA sponsored effort to investigate the strength of CFS stud walls braced by both steel bridging channels and sheathing such as gypsum board.
The report provides a path forward for predicting the strength of CFS stud walls under these “combined” bracing conditions and recommends that traditional steel bracing systems be maintained for construction, but that the benefits of sheathing bracing should be considered formally in design. In a small series of focused tests it was shown that sheathing bracing dominates the response when present and that lateral bracing forces from discrete steel bridging do not accumulate along the length of the wall when sheathing is present. The report provides a comprehensive prediction method and spreadsheets that support the prediction. A 30 minute video provides an introduction to employing the spreadsheets in design.
The report, supporting spreadsheets and video are available in the CFSRC DSPACE at this link.