Analysis of racking performance of steel-timber hybrid lateral resistant system

A concept of mid-rise steel-timber hybrid structure is raised in this paper, and the racking performance of steel-timber hybrid lateral resistant system which is composed of the beams and columns in steel portal frame and infill light wood-frame shear wall is mainly discussed. Racking performance of five models with different structural configurations is investigated through finite element analysis to study the influence of infill wood shear walls and to evaluate their effectiveness in resisting lateral loads. It is found that the ultimate bearing capacity and yield load of steel frame can be improved by infill wood shear wall, and using stronger infill wood shear wall will lead to higher lateral resistance of the hybrid system. Steel frame and infill wood shear wall roughly maintain their own load bearing characteristics in the steel-timber hybrid lateral resistant system, and show a complementary behaviour when work together.