Wind-uplift capacity of cold-formed steel weatherboard claddings—Experimental​ and numerical investigations

Abstract

Cold-formed steel (CFS) weatherboard claddings are popular in industrial and housing applications, and CFS weatherboard claddings with spans of up to 1500m are now being used in New Zealand. However, there are limited experimental data on their behaviour under uplift and cyclic wind loading. This paper presents a detailed experimental investigation to investigate the wind-uplift capacity of clip-fixed CFS weatherboard cladding. A total of 24 new tests were carried out on a series of weatherboard claddings under static wind uplift and cyclic pressure using a Pressure Loading Actuator (PLA). Two different cladding thicknesses (0.48 mm and 0.55 mm) were considered in the experimental investigation. The material properties of the claddings were determined using tensile coupon tests and the initial geometric imperfections were measured using a laser scanner. Tests revealed that the weatherboard clips are susceptible to local failure in the region of the tek screws where two adjacent cladding sheets are connected, followed by the global failure of the cladding assembly at ultimate wind pressure. The global failure was initiated by the shear failure of the weatherboard clips. A nonlinear finite element model was also developed for weatherboard claddings under static wind uplift pressure, which showed reasonable agreement with the experimental results. The non-linear material properties and initial imperfections were included in the finite element model. A parametric study was conducted comprising 264 finite element models to investigate the effect of thickness, yield stress and cladding span on the wind uplift capacity of such weatherboard claddings. It was found that the width of pan, yield stress and cladding thickness are important factors in influencing the wind-uplift capacity of such weatherboard cladding profiles. The experimental results and the numerical model can be used by the researchers and practising engineers to predict the wind-uplift capacity of such weatherboard claddings under static wind uplift and cyclic wind pressures.