Timber-framed walls with openings coated with single fibre –plaster boards

The paper presents an experimental analysis of timber – framed wall panels with openings, coated with single fibre-plaster boards fastened to a timber frame. The present study is a continuation of the research work realized in the last years in reinforcing of the prefabricated timber-framed wall panels without any openings. The aim of the study presented here was to provide the information about the influence of the openings on the wall's racking load-carrying capacity as well as on the horizontal stiffness of the timber-framed wall panels. The tests were carried out on three groups of full-scale wall panels with different areas of openings. The measured results were compared to the results of wall panels without openings. Subsequently, the strength/stiffness ratios, defined as the ratios of strength/stiffness of wall panels with openings to those of no-opening wall panels were calculated. The presented experimental study also emphasizes the conclusion that the timber-framed wall elements containing an opening may be accounted to contribute to the overall horizontal load-carrying capacity, especially when a considerable part of the structure is made of such panels. Key-Words: Timber, Structures, Frame walls, Openings, Fibre-plaster boards, Experiments