Cold-formed Channel Research Articles

Compression tests of cold-formed channel sections with perforations in the web

This paper describes a series of compression tests performed on cold-formed steel channel sections with perforations in the web (thermal studs) fabricated from a galvanized steel plate whose thickness ranged from 1.0 mm to 1.6 mm and nominal yield stress was 295 MPa. The structural behavior and performance of thermal studs undergoing local, distortional, or flexural-torsional buckling were investigated experimentally and analytically. The compression tests indicate that the slits in the web had significant negative effects on the buckling and ultimate strength of thin-walled channel section columns. The compressive strength of perforated thermal studs was estimated using equivalent solid channel sections of reduced thickness instead of the studs. The direct strength method, a newly developed and adopted alternative to the effective width method for designing cold-formed steel sections in the AISI Standard S100 (2004) and AS/NZS 4600 (Standard Australia 2005), was calibrated to the test results for its application to cold-formed channel sections with slits in the web. The results verify that the DSM can predict the ultimate strength of channel section columns with slits in the web by substituting equivalent solid sections of reduced thickness for them.

Numerical Analysis of Eccentrically Loaded Cold-Formed Plain Channel Columns

Finite element analysis of pinned cold-formed plain channel columns of different width-to-thickness ratios is presented in this paper. The study is focused not only on axially loaded columns, but also on eccentrically loaded columns. The general purpose finite element software ABAQUS 6.12 was used, and the force controlled loading was adopted. Geometric and material nonlinearities were incorporated in the finite element model. The ultimate loads are compared with the direct strength method (DSM) for axially loaded columns. Also, a parametric study is done by varying the length of the column and width of the unstiffened element. It is observed that the results correlate better with the DSM values for columns having unstiffened elements of lower bf/t ratios. The change in ultimate load is studied only in ABAQUS, as the position of load moves towards the free edge and the supported edge of the unstiffened element. A parametric study is done by varying the nonuniform compression factor for the columns. It is observed that the ultimate load increases as the position of load moves towards the supported edge and it is influenced by the bf/t ratio of the unstiffened element.

Numerical studies and design of hollow flange channel beams subject to combined bending and shear actions

LiteSteel beam (LSB) is a cold-formed steel hollow flange channel section produced using a patented manufacturing process involving simultaneous cold-forming and dual electric resistance welding. It is commonly used as floor joists and bearers in residential, industrial and commercial buildings. Design of the LSB is governed by the Australian cold-formed steel structures code, AS/NZS 4600. Due to the geometry of the LSB, as well as its unique residual stress characteristics and initial geometric imperfections resultant of manufacturing processes, currently available design equations for common cold-formed sections are not directly applicable to the LSB. Many research studies have been carried out to evaluate the behaviour and design of LSBs subject to pure bending actions and predominant shear actions. To date, however, no investigation has been conducted into the strength of LSB sections under combined bending and shear actions. Hence experimental and numerical studies were conducted to assess the combined bending and shear behaviour of LSBs. Finite element models of LSBs were developed to simulate their combined bending and shear behaviour and strength of LSBs. They were then validated by comparing the results with available experimental test results and used in a detailed parametric study. The results from experimental and finite element analyses were compared with current AS/NZS 4600 and AS 4100 design rules. Both experimental and numerical studies show that the AS/NZS 4600 design rule based on circular interaction equation is conservative in predicting the combined bending and shear capacities of LSBs. This paper presents the details of the numerical studies of LSBs and the results. In response to the inadequacies of current approaches to designing LSBs for combined bending and shear, two lower bound design equations are proposed in this paper.

Experimental studies of hollow flange channel beams subject to combined bending and shear actions

This paper presents the details of an experimental study of a cold-formed steel hollow flange channel beam known as LiteSteel beam (LSB) subject to combined bending and shear actions. The LSB sections are produced by a patented manufacturing process involving simultaneous cold-forming and electric resistance welding. Due to the geometry of the LSB, as well as its unique residual stress characteristics and initial geometric imperfections resultant of manufacturing processes, much of the existing research for common cold-formed steel sections is not directly applicable to LSB. Experimental and numerical studies have been carried out to evaluate the behaviour and design of LSBs subject to pure bending actions and predominant shear actions. To date, however, no investigation has been conducted into the strength of LSB sections under combined bending and shear actions. Combined bending and shear is especially prevalent at the supports of continuous span and cantilever beams, where the interaction of high shear force and bending moment can reduce the capacity of a section to well below that for the same section subject only to pure shear or moment. Hence experimental studies were conducted to assess the combined bending and shear behaviour and strengths of LSBs. Eighteen tests were conducted and the results were compared with current AS/NZS 4600 and AS 4100 design rules. AS/NZS 4600 design rule based on circular interaction equation was shown to grossly underestimate the combined bending and shear capacities of LSBs and hence two lower bound design equations were proposed based on experimental results. Use of these equations will significantly improve the confidence and cost-effectiveness of designing LSBs for combined bending and shear actions.

Experimental investigation of C-beams with non-standard flanges

The paper presents results of experimental investigations of stability and limit load of cold-formed thin-walled channel beams with non-standard flanges subjected to pure bending. Critical and limit loads were determined using a strength testing machine. Obtained results were compared with analytical solutions. The influence of non-standard flanges on the critical load and limit load was shown as well.

Cold-formed steel channel columns optimization with simulated annealing method

Cold-formed profiles have been largely used in the building industry because they can be easily produced and because they allow for a wide range of sections and thus can be utilized to meet different project requirements. Attainment of maximum performance by structural elements with low use of material is a challenge for engineering projects. This paper presents a numerical study aimed at minimizing the weight of lipped and unlipped cold-formed channel columns, following the AISI 2007 specification. Flexural, torsional and torsional-flexural buckling of columns was considered as constraints. The simulated annealing method was used for optimization. Several numerical simulations are presented and discussed to validate the proposal, in addition to an experimental example that qualifies its implementation. The ratios between lips, web width, and flange width are analyzed. Finally, it may be concluded that the optimization process yields excellent results in terms of cross-sectional area reduction.

A new slenderness-based approach for the web crippling design of plain channel steel beams

In this paper, the web crippling strength of cold-formed steel plain channel beams subjected to concentrated loads is evaluated on the basis of numerical models and available test results. The design equations existing in current steel codes display many coefficients, have not theoretical background and overlook the slenderness concept, which is a trademark of safety checking rules related with other failure modes such as column flexural-torsional buckling, web shear buckling and plate buckling. The main objective is to show that such slenderness-based approach is possible for web crippling design. Firstly, some considerations about the web crippling of cold-formed steel beams are drawn and a brief review is made. Secondly, the equations for web crippling design available in current Eurocode 3 and AISI steel codes are described. Then, the numerical model is explained in detail. On the basis of numerical and experimental results, it is shown that an approach based on the slenderness concept leads to fairly good estimates of web crippling load. Finally, some conclusions are drawn.

Fire Resistance of Web-Slotted Cold-Formed Channel Columns with Non-Uniform Temperature Distributions

The fire resistant behavior of web-slotted cold-formed channel columns with non-uniform temperature distributions was investigated extensively by use of the finite element method in this article. The failure mode of the web-slotted column with non-uniform temperature distributions is very complex with the interaction of the local buckling, the distortional buckling and the global flexural buckling. The ultimate strengths of members with non-uniform temperature distributions are higher than that with uniform temperature distributions of the same highest temperature. In addition the analysis results indicate that the degradation of the material strength makes the dominating factor influencing the fire resistance of cold-formed members. The simplified approach was proposed for the practical design of web-slotted cold-formed columns at high temperatures.

Experiments on Cold-Formed Steel Lipped Channel Beams with Complex Edge Stiffeners and Web Holes

This paper presents an experimental investigation and a numerical analysis on the bending strength and behavior of cold-formed steel C-section and ∑-section beams with complex edge stiffeners and web holes. Local buckling, distortional buckling and interaction between local and distortional buckling were observed in the tests. The experimental results show that the stiffened web has great influence on member's bending strength. Compared with C-section specimens, the stiffness of the web stiffeners of ∑-section specimens reduced the influence of the holes. The finite element analysis results show good agreement with the experimental results in terms of bending strength and buckling mode.

Experimental studies of the shear behavior and strength of LiteSteel beams with stiffened web openings

LiteSteel beam (LSB) is a new cold-formed steel hollow flange channel section produced using a patented manufacturing process. It is commonly used as flexural members in residential, industrial and commercial buildings. Current practice in flooring systems is to include openings in the web element of floor joists or bearers so that building services can be located within them. Test results have shown that the shear capacity of LSBs can be reduced considerably by the inclusion of web openings. A cost effective method of eliminating the detrimental effects of a large web opening is to attach suitable stiffeners around the web openings of LSBs. A detailed experimental study consisting of 17 shear tests was therefore undertaken to investigate the shear behavior and strength of LSBs with stiffened circular web openings. Both plate and stud stiffeners with varying sizes and thicknesses were attached to the web elements of LSBs using a number of screw-fastening arrangements in order to develop a suitable stiffening arrangement for LSBs. Simply supported test specimens of LSBs with an aspect ratio of 1.5 were loaded at mid-span until failure. This paper presents the details of this experimental study of LSBs with stiffened web openings, and the results of their shear capacities and associated behavioral characteristics. Suitable screw-fastened plate stiffener arrangements have been recommended in order to restore the original shear capacity of LSBs.

Numerical Modelling of Stiffness and Strength Behaviour of Top-Seat Flange-Cleat Connection for Cold-Formed Double Channel Section

Prediction of structural behaviour by numerical modelling can reduce the cost in conducting full-scaled experiments. This paper studies the stiffness and strength behaviour of top-seat flange-cleat connection for cold-formed steel double channel sections using finite element method. In this investigation, cold-formed channel sections are assembled back-to-back to form I-shape beam and column members. The 2 mm cold-formed bracket and 6 mm hot-rolled angle are used to connect the members. The results were collected from different beam depth ranged 150 mm, 200 mm and 250 mm. The rotational stiffness and strength obtained from the numerical modelling are then compared to the design requirements from BS EN 1993-1-8 and experimental data. The comparison of moment-rotation behaviour for top-seat flange-cleat connection has shown not more than 35% difference for strength behaviour and 50% difference for rotational stiffness behaviour between numerical modelling and experimental data. However, there is a noticeable difference between finite element models and analytical calculation. The differences are recorded from 18% to 65% for strength behaviour and between 1% and 153% for stiffness behaviour. The differences obtained between finite element analysis and experimental investigation are caused by edge stiffener while differences from finite element models and analytical models are due to strain hardening.

Suitable stiffening systems for LiteSteel beams with web openings subjected to shear

LiteSteel beam (LSB) is a new cold-formed steel hollow flange channel section produced using a simultaneous cold-forming and dual electric resistance welding process. It is commonly used as floor joists and bearers with web openings in residential, industrial and commercial buildings. Their shear strengths are considerably reduced when web openings are included for the purpose of locating building services. A cost effective method of eliminating the detrimental effects of a large web opening is to attach suitable stiffeners around the web openings of LSBs. Experimental and numerical studies were undertaken to investigate the shear behavior and strength of LSBs with circular web openings reinforced using plate, stud, transverse and sleeve stiffeners with varying sizes and thicknesses. Both welding and varying screw-fastening arrangements were used to attach these stiffeners to the web of LSBs. Finite element models of LSBs with stiffened web openings in shear were developed to simulate their shear behavior and strength of LSBs. They were then validated by comparing the results with experimental test results and used in a detailed parametric study. These studies have shown that plate stiffeners were the most suitable, however, their use based on the current American standards was found to be inadequate. Suitable screw-fastened plate stiffener arrangements with optimum thicknesses have been proposed for LSBs with web openings to restore their original shear capacity. This paper presents the details of the numerical study and the results.

Design of Cold-Formed Thin-Walled Steel Fixed-Ended Channels with Complex Edge Stiffeners under Axial Compressive Load by Direct Strength Method

The stability bearing capacity of axially compressive loaded fixed-ended channels with complex edge stiffeners were analyzed by direct strength method in this paper. A total of 292 examples with different parameters were selected to be studied by nonlinear finite element analysis. As the members with fix-ends, the failure modes include local and flexural-torsional interactive buckling, distortional and flexural-torsional interactive buckling. The revised direct strength method was put forward. After revise, the formula is in good agreement with experimental results. It is shown that direct strength method is valid for predicting the stability capacity of axially loaded fixed-ended channel columns with complex edge stiffeners. We suggest using the DSM3 to calculate the cold-formed thin-walled steel fixed-ended channels with complex edge stiffeners under axial compressive load.

Lateral–torsional buckling of cold-formed channel sections subject to combined compression and bending

This paper presents an analytical study of the flexural buckling and lateral–torsional buckling of cold-formed steel channel section beams subject to combined compression and bending about their major and minor axes. For channel section beams a bending about the minor axis creates a non-symmetric pre-buckling stress distribution, which has a significant influence on the lateral–torsional buckling of the beams. This kind of feature has not been discussed in the existing literature. The focus of this present study is the interaction between the compression load and the bending moments about the major and minor axes. It has been found that for a section subject to combined compression and the major-axis bending the bending moment will decrease the critical compression load, although the critical value of the largest compressive stress in the section actually increases with the applied bending moment. However, for a section subject to combined compression and the minor-axis bending the effect of the bending moment on the critical compression load depends on the direction of bending applied. For bending that creates a compressive stress in the lips the bending moment will reduce the critical compression load. However, for bending that creates a compressive stress in the web the bending moment has almost no influence on the critical compression load.

Structural Behaviour of Combined Flange-Cleat and Gusset Plate Connection for Cold-Formed Steel Double Channel Sections

The use of cold-formed steel in light steel framing design is becoming popular in Industrialized Building System, because the construction activities on-site are reduced and make it faster, cleaner and to a certain aspect safer if compared to the use of traditional building system. The lightness of the structures may reduce the severity of building collapse. However the beam-to-column joints in IBS is am major concern especially in case of seismic behaviour. These joints behaviour for cold-formed steel primary structures, particularly the partial strength semirigid beam-to-column connection has not been studied in depth. This paper presents the isolated joint test on combined flange-cleat and slip-in gusset plate connections with 6 mm steel angles and plates. Two cold-formed lipped channel sections were placed back-to-back to form beam and column members. Three specimens with the depth of beam ranging from 150 mm to 250 mm were tested. From the experimental results, it is observed that the ratio of moment resistance of joint to the moment resistance of the connected beam increases in the range of 0.76 to 0.94. The rotational capacities of the joints exceed 30 mRad. The rotational stiffness achieves 646 kNm/rad to 2228 kNm/rad. It is concluded that the proposed connections are classified as partial strength connection and suitable for semi-continuous construction that enhanced the seismic design by providing ductile behaviour. © 2012 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved.

Base connections of single cold-formed steel portal frames

Abstract An investigation of the behaviour of base connections, fabricated from cold-formed channels and hot-rolled angle cleats, is presented in this paper. This investigation is part of an extensive research to develop portal frames made out of single cold-formed steel channels. The use of bolted angle cleats allows for a simple connection to be developed, which can result in significant cost savings within the steel construction industry. Stiffer angle cleats are used to prevent premature failing of the base connections. The base connections are subjected to four loading configurations and these are dependent on the eccentricity of the load. In base connections where cold-formed angle cleats were used, failure of the bases was largely caused by premature deformation of the angle cleats. Base connections with hot-rolled angle cleats were so stiff that failure occurred in the column channels instead of the angle cleats. A significant amount of bearing distortion was observed in the heavily loaded flange. A simple formula is suggested to design these bases.

Localized web buckling analysis of beams subjected to concentrated loads using GBT

This paper presents and illustrates a GBT formulation to analyse the elastic localized web buckling of thin-walled steel beams under concentrated loads. The theme of localised web buckling is first introduced by describing the parameters that most influence the buckling behaviour of slender plates subjected to edge loads. After that, a GBT formulation to analyse the elastic localized web buckling of thin-walled steel beams under concentrated loads is presented: the GBT equations are derived and the determination of deformation modes is briefly addressed. Then, two illustrative examples are shown and validated by comparison with shell finite element results: (i) cold-formed steel plain channel beams with web crippling configurations and (ii) welded steel I-section beams with patch loading configurations. It is found that both pre-buckling longitudinal normal (σxx0) and shear (τxs0) stresses have to be included in the buckling analyses of cold-formed steel beams with External One Flange (EOF) and Internal One Flange (IOF) configurations as well as welded steel beams with Patch Loading Test (PLT) configuration. Furthermore, the pre-buckling transverse normal (σss0) stresses have to be included in the buckling analysis of cold-formed steel beams with External Two Flange (ETF) and Internal Two Flange (ITF) configurations as well as welded steel beams with Opposite Patch Loading Test (OPLT) configuration. In beams with EOF, IOF, PLT configurations, the GBT pre-buckling analysis should consider global and shear modes while the GBT buckling analysis may only consider local modes. In beams with ETF, ITF, OPLT configurations, the GBT pre-buckling analysis should consider transverse extension modes while the GBT buckling analysis may only consider local modes.

Yield line mechanism analysis of cold-formed channel sections with edge stiffeners under bending

Cold-formed channel sections are used in a variety of applications in which they are required to absorb deformation energy. This paper investigates the collapse behaviour and energy absorption capability of cold-formed steel channels with flange edge stiffeners under large deformation major-axis bending. The Yield Line Mechanism technique is applied using the energy method, and based upon measured spatial plastic collapse mechanisms from experiments. Analytical solutions for the collapse curve and in-plane rotation capacity are developed, and used to model the large deformation behaviour and energy absorption. The analytical results are shown to compare well with experimental values. Due to the complexities of the yield line model of the collapse mechanism, a simplified procedure to calculate the energy absorbed by channel sections under large bending deformation is developed and also shown to compare well with the experiments.

Elastic buckling of cold-formed channel sections in shear

The paper studies and provides solutions to the elastic buckling of whole channel sections including flanges and lips where the sections are loaded in pure shear parallel with the web. The elastic buckling analyses of thin-walled channel sections in pure shear have been implemented by means of the Spline Finite Strip Method (SFSM) to determine the elastic buckling loads (Vcr) of the sections. The shear buckling coefficients (kv) of the web for design of a section are back-calculated from the shear buckling loads. The main variables are the flange widths, member lengths and lip sizes. The boundary conditions at two end sections are simply supported. The results of the analyses plotted in the format of interaction charts are given as design guidelines for designers to predict the elastic buckling shear coefficient (kv) without using the Spline Finite Strip Method (SFSM) software. Typical buckling modes at different flange widths, member lengths and lip sizes are also included in this paper. The modes include local web and flange buckling, section distortional buckling and section twisting.

Optimization of Cold-Formed Channel Sections Using Imperialist Competitive Algorithm

The Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) is a novel computational method based on the concept of socio-political motivated strategy, which is usually used to solve different types of optimization problems. This paper presents the optimization of cold-formed channel section subjected to axial compression force utilizing the ICA method. The results are then compared to the Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) algorithm for validation purpose. The results obtained from the ICA method is in good agreement with the GA and SQP method in terms of weight but slightly different in the geometry shape.