Compressive loading of structural insulated panels and conventional stud walls: a study

Structural insulated panels (SIPs) are structural elements comprising a core of expanded polystyrene insulation sandwiched between two oriented strand boards. They can replace conventional joist floors and stud walls in low-rise residential construction. Three identical samples of full-scale SIP walls and stud walls were tested according to ASTM standards and experimental results for the specimens were obtained in terms of their ultimate load capacity and failure mechanism. Comparison of the load–deformation diagrams of the SIPs and stud walls showed that tangential stiffness variation of the former occurred in the hardening mode, whereas the variation for the latter was in two stages, hardening and softening. Regarding compressive loading, the results showed that SIPs are as good as conventional wood framing of the same size. Therefore, SIP walls are very efficient in the case of axial compressive loading.