In-Plane Shear Resistance of Insulating Concrete Form Walls

The efficient use of shear walls in residential construction subjected to wind and seismic loading is of great interest to designers and builders of homes in high hazard areas of the United States. Shear walls are the primary lateral force resisting system in residential construction. There has been considerable research aimed at optimizing the design of light-framed shear walls (wood and cold-formed steel) in recent years. For relatively new types of wall systems, such as Insulating Concrete Form (ICF) wall construction, the technical information available is limited. There is a need to confirm or improve the use of traditional concrete shear wall design methods particularly in the context of ICF systems and residential construction practices. Thus, inefficiencies that result in conservative (uneconomical) or unconservative (unsafe) applications may be avoided.