Numerical investigations on built‐up cold‐formed steel beams for long spans

Abstract

AbstractThe material saving obtained by using thin‐walled cold‐formed steel elements is well‐known for small structures as well as for common industrial structures. Additional to the truss type structures, another solution for obtaining light‐weight elements consist of connecting cold‐formed steel profiles as the flange to the corrugated steel sheets as the web. The resistance spot welding connecting technique is an advanced solution which offers reduced manpower and time for element production. These built‐up elements have shown their feasibility and high bearing capacity in previous studies. The present paper highlights additional characteristic responses of cold‐formed steel elements that extend in the response of built‐up corrugated web beams. The parameters considered in the numerical model include the span of the beam, the height of the beam, the thickness of the corrugated web plates, the thickness of the shear panel, the number of resistance spot welds and the orientation of the beam axis. By considering the real case configuration of industrial buildings, pitched roofs require the beams to have an inclination. The analyzed inclined beams exhibited increased capacity due to the redistribution of internal forces, growing the attractiveness of this solution.