• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1599-1610
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• 2015

Cold Formed Steel members are widely used in today's construction industry. However the structural behavior of light gauge high strength cold formed steel sections characterized by various buckling modes are not yet fully understood. Because of their simple forming and easy connections, the commonly used cold formed sections for beams are C and Z. However both these sections suffer from certain buckling modes. To achieve much improved structural performance of cold formed sections for beams both in terms of strength and stiffness, it is important to either delay or completely eliminate their various modes of buckling. This paper presents various innovative sectional profiles and stiffening arrangements for cold formed steel beams which would successfully contribute in delaying or eliminating various modes of premature buckling, thus considerably improving the load carrying capacity as well as stiffness characteristics of such innovative cold formed sections compared to conventional cold formed steel sections commonly used for beams.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.465-489
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• 2012

Residual stresses play important role for design of steel structural members. Cold formed sections usually have residual stresses caused by roll forming. When compared to stresses caused by the working load, especially for compressed members, the effects of residual stresses can be favorable or unfavorable depending on magnitude, orientation and distribution of these stresses. The research presented in this paper includes experimental investigations of residual stresses, initial imperfections and material properties on cold formed carbon steel open cross sections. Experimental results have been compared to results obtained in similar tests with stainless and high strength steel cross sections. Theoretical and experimental research, conducted for cold formed open cross sections, are important for design of axially compressed members. This paper presents two methods of residual stresses investigation: magnetic method and method of pre-drilled holes and obtained results have been compared with results of residual stresses from other authors.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.233-250
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• 2018

Back-to-back built-up cold-formed steel un-lipped channel sections are used in cold-formed steel structures; such as trusses, wall frames and portal frames. In such built-up columns, intermediate fasteners resist the buckling of individual channel-sections. No experimental tests or finite element analyses have been reported in the literature for back-to-back built-up cold-formed steel un-lipped channel sections and specially investigated the effect of screw spacing on axial strength of such columns. The issue is addressed in this paper. The results of 95 finite element analyses are presented covering stub to slender columns. The finite element model is validated against the experimental tests recently conducted by authors for back-to-back built-up cold-formed steel lipped channel sections. The verified finite element model is then used for the purposes of a parametric study to investigate the effect of screw spacing on axial strength of back-to-back built-up cold-formed steel un-lipped channel sections. Results are compared against the built-up lipped channel sections and it is shown that the axial strength of un-lipped built-up sections are 31% lesser on average than the built-up lipped channel sections. It was also found that the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the Australian and New Zealand Standards were over-conservative by around 15% for built-up columns failed through overall buckling, however AISI and AS/NZS were un-conservative by around 8% for built-up columns mainly failed by local buckling.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.285-302
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• 2006

This paper describes the design and behaviour of cold-formed stainless steel slender circular hollow section columns. The columns were compressed between fixed ends at different column lengths. The investigation focused on large diameter-to-plate thickness (D/t) ratio ranged from 100 to 200. An accurate finite element model has been developed. The initial local and overall geometric imperfections have been included in the finite element model. The material nonlinearity of the cold-formed stainless steel sections was incorporated in the model. The column strengths, load-shortening curves as well as failure modes were predicted using the finite element model. The nonlinear finite element model was verified against test results. An extensive parametric study was carried out to study the effects of cross-section geometries on the strength and behaviour of stainless steel slender circular hollow section columns with large D/t ratio. The column strengths predicted from the parametric study were compared with the design strengths calculated using the American Specification, Australian/New Zealand Standard and European Code for cold-formed stainless steel structures. It is shown that the design strengths obtained using the Australian/New Zealand and European specifications are generally unconservative for the cold-formed stainless steel slender circular hollow section columns, while the American Specification is generally quite conservative. Therefore, design equation was proposed in this study.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.629-659
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• 2016

In cold-formed stainless steel lipped channel-sections, web openings are becoming increasingly popular. Such openings, however, result in the sections becoming more susceptible to web crippling, especially under concentrated loads applied near the web opening. This paper presents the results of a finite element parametric study into the effect of circular web openings on the web crippling strength of cold-formed stainless steel lipped channel-sections for the interior-one-flange (IOF) loading condition. This involves a bearing load applied to the top flange of a length of member, away from the end supports. The cases of web openings located centred beneath the bearing load (i.e. beneath the bearing plate delivering the load) and offset to the bearing plate, are considered. Three grades of stainless steel are considered: duplex EN1.4462, austenitic EN1.4404 and ferretic EN1.4003. In total, 2218 finite element models were analyzed. From the results of the parametric study, strength reduction factors for load bearing capacity are determined, where these reduction factors are applied to the bearing capacity calculated for a web without openings, to take account the influence of the web openings. The strength reduction factors are first compared to equations recently proposed for cold-formed carbon steel lipped channel-sections. It is shown that for the case of the duplex grade, the strength reduction factor equations for cold-formed carbon steel are conservative but only by 2%. However, for the cases of the austentic and ferritic grades, the cold-formed carbon steel equations are around 9% conservative. New strength reduction factor equations are proposed for all three stainless steel grades.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.837-853
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• 2016

This paper presents the experimental and numerical study on the distribution of transverse and longitudinal residual stresses in cold-formed thick-walled structural steel rectangular hollow sections manufactured by indirect technique. Hole-drilling method is employed to measure the magnitude of the transverse and longitudinal surface residual stress distribution, and the effects of the residual stresses are evaluated qualitatively by sectioning method. It is shown that compared to normal cold-formed thin-walled structural hollow sections (SHS), the cold-formed thick-walled SHS has similar level of residual stress in the flat area but higher residual stresses in the corner and welding areas. Both the transverse and longitudinal residual stresses tend to open the section. In order to predict the surface residual stresses in the corners of the cold-formed thick-walled SHS, an analytical model is developed. 2D finite element simulation of the cold bending process is conducted to validate the analytical approach. It is shown that in analyzing bending for thick-walled sections, shifting of neutral axis must be considered, since it would lead to nonlinear and non-symmetrical distribution of stresses through the thickness. This phenomenon leads to the fact that cold-formed thick-walled SHSs has different distribution and magnitude of the residual stresses from the cold-formed thin-walled SHSs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.349-356
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• 2002

Cold-Formed C-section and Lipped C-section are commonly used as structural members of steel houses in Korea. Both are made of SGC41 steel. However, special Cold-Formed Sections with unique cross sectional shape have been developed and widely used in advanced countries. This research focused on the newly developed thin-walled Cold-Formed Sections which possess not only high strength and stiffness but also other advantages in construction. A series of compression tests was conducted to investigate the structural behavior of a compression member, including its load carrying capacity. Test results were compared with analytical study results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.657-679
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• 2014

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.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.171-188
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• 2020

The past research on cold-formed steel (CFS) flexural members have proved that rectangular hollow flanged sections perform better than conventional I-sections due to their higher torsional rigidity over the later ones. However, CFS members are vulnerable to local buckling, substantially due to their thin-walled features. The use of packing, such as firmly connected timber planks, to the flanges of conventional CFS lipped I-sections can drastically improve their flexural performance as well as structural efficiency. Whilst several CFS composites have been developed so far, only limited packing materials have been tried. This paper presents a series of tests carried out on different rectangular hollow compression flanged sections with innovative packing materials. Four-point flexural tests were carried out to assess the flexural capacity, failure modes and deformed shapes of the CFS composite beam specimens. The geometric imperfections were measured and reported. The North American Specifications and Indian Standard for cold-formed steel structures were used to compare the design strengths of the experimental specimen. The test results indicate clearly that CFS rectangular 'compression' flanged composite beams perform significantly better than the conventional rectangular hollow flanged CFS sections.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.207-220
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• 2016

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of stiffened element and edge stiffener in the behaviour and flexural strength of built-up cold-formed steel beams. An experimental and analytical analysis of CFS channel sections in four different geometries is conducted, including simple channel sections, a stiffened channel section with or without edge stiffeners. Nonlinear finite element models are developed using finite element analysis software package ANSYS. The FEA results are verified with the experimental results. Further, the finite element model is used for parametric studies by varying the depth, thickness, and the effect of stiffened element, edge stiffener and their interaction with compression flanges on stiffened built-up cold-formed steel beams with upright edge stiffeners. In addition, the flexural strength predicted by the finite element analysis is compared with the design flexural strength calculated by using the North American Iron and Steel Institute Specifications for cold-formed steel structures (AISI: S100-2007) and suitable suggestion is made.