Residential steel building (low rise) - infill panel ? 1

[kostast88]

I attended a building materials expo the other day and saw infill panel for buildings made of polysterene (EPS). I was intrigued and at the same time not convinced about it. The vendor argued it's fireproof, earthquake-proof and all sorts of things. For reference it looks something like that:

The main advantages to me are low weight, low material cost & insulation.

I'm very suspicious of the product because under an earthquake, the steel frame would do fine. But I think the differential displacements between steel (ductile) and EPS (brittle) would probably damage the panel, resulting to an unhappy customer and potential claims. That's all other factors aside like fireproofing, waterproofing, fixings, special installation cost, etc.

To those of you who design/build residential steel frame buildings: What type of infill panels do you usually choose? (with Seismic considerations)

In the UK most of what I had seen were:
-Timber stud wall (OK)
-Cold Formed steel studwork (expensive)
-Masonry infill (light blockwork or even brickwork) (heavy)
-Precast panel (super rare)

No earthquakes in the UK, so I'm interested in hearing opinions from high seismicity zones (California, etc).

 

[dhengr]

Kostast88:
That looks like it has the potential of being a fairly plausible framing panel, given enough attention to proper structural design and detailing. Whether it is shotcrete or precast, that looks a lot like a tilt-up wall panel. Mechanical equip. can be put/cut into the insul., wooden opening bucks can be installed, and the two edge jambs could be made of thick and wide enough conc. to act as columns on a 6' or 8' o/c vert. framing system. The edges/jambs may be keyed together, have embedded weld plates or some fancy proprietary fastening system which makes them act like a true shear wall. And, at the 2nd fl. or ceiling and roof you do want to develop good horiz. diaphragms, etc. to transfer lateral loads to perpendicular walls. Systems like you show do not play well with steel framing. Steel moment frames or braced frames can certainly be designed to take the EQ loads, but they are fairly flexible; whereas the conc. panels are very rigid and inclined to try to take all of the lateral loading, so the two must be designed and detailed to work together. In Calif. steel moment frames are often used to take the primary lateral loads in fancy residential bldgs., and then, the wood framing and siding just kinda goes along for the ride (lat. movement). Rigid infill like brick veneer or panels like your’s have to be detailed to allow the steel to move to do its work. They can move some perpendicular to the panel (kinda hinged top and bot.) to follow the steel, but they will try to take all the lateral load if forced to move in their own plane.

 

[kostast88]

I have similar thoughts, thanks for your reply. This type of panel would work better with RC buildings which are inherently stiff rather than steel buildings. This could probably work only if it was completely separated from the sides & top of the steel frame, with a nominal gap (some sort of sliding support). This kind of detail is beyond me.