Special Issue on Cold-Formed Steel Structures

Abstract

Because of the recent increase and diversity in commercial activity dealing with the usage of cold-formed steel structures in the construction industry, the research community workingwith this type of structure has been faced with new challenges. This has fostered a fairly large number of considerable advances in structural engineering topics related to cold-formed steel applications. The aim of this special issue of the Journal of Structural Engineering is to put together, in a single comprehensive issue, a representative sample of the newest and most relevant analytical, numerical, and experimental original research devoted to investigating the behavior and design of cold-formed steel structures around the world. Indeed, this issue includes contributions from researchers working in 13 countries, located on four continents. This special issue contains 18 technical papers and one technical note covering a wealth of topics concerning cold-formed steel structural systems. Without claiming to be exhaustive, it is possible to find papers dealing with members (columns and beams), panels, frames, walls, shear walls, and connections. Overall, the papers describe specific analytical, numerical, or experimental investigations that (1) address first-order buckling, postbuckling, or ductility problems; (2) involve static or dynamic (including seismic) analyses; (3) cover both carbon and stainless cold-formed steels, and (4) are concerned mainly with behavioral aspects or focus on design issues; namely, the development of rules for codes and specifications. For organizational purposes, the papers are divided into four groups, each one corresponding, as much as possible, to a given structural system type. The first group is comprised of eight papers on the analysis and design of isolated cold-formed steel structural elements, including seven papers on members and one on panels. The second group includes three papers that are concerned with the behavior and design of cold-formed steel connections, one aiming specifically at studying effects resulting from elevated temperatures. The technical note that closes the special issue also addresses a connection strength problem. Next, the third group consists of four papers that report investigations on the static behavior and design of cold-formed steel walls (one paper) and the cyclic/dynamic behavior and performance of shear walls (three papers). Finally, the last group contains the remaining three papers, all concerning cold-formed steel frames; two papers on buildings and one on storage racks. The content of each of the papers included in the special issue is succinctly outlined in the subsequent sections. Cold-Formed Steel Structural Elements