Do shear panels perform better if they are placed at the corners of a building?
There is no magic in locating shear walls at a building’s corners. When plywood was first introduced, it was presented as an alternative to let-in braces, which typically were installed at building corners. Early literature put out by the American Plywood Association showed plywood panels placed at a building’s corners simply because at that time windows were not placed as close to corners as they are in today’s home designs. Properly designed shear wall segments can be located anywhere along a length of wall.
