Timber shear walls: numerical assessment of the equivalent viscous damping

The seismic performance of timber shear walls is studied in this work, with focus on the energy dissipation ensured by sheathing-to-framing connections. Numerical non-linear analyses are carried out using a parametric numerical model developed in OpenSees and varying some basic design variables affecting the overall racking capacity of the wall, namely: aspect ratio, nails spacing and number of vertical studs. The equivalent viscous damping has been assessed by estimating the damping factor η through the Capacity Spectrum Method.