• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제2권5호
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• pp.397-410
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• 2002

The main aim of the present paper is to present the results of a full-scale experimental investigation to study the structural behaviour of composite steel beams. The composite beam was made of cold-formed steel section shapes filled with reinforced concrete. First a comprehensive description of the experimental results in terms of: deflections, deformations, slippage and stress levels on critical steps of the load path is presented. The experimental results were then compared to theoretical values obtained by the use of an analytical model based on ultimate limit state stress blocks. Finally, a practical application of the use of this structural solution is depicted.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제45권6호
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• pp.895-905
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• 2022

Composite flooring systems consisting of cold-formed steel joists and reinforced concrete slabs offer an efficient, lightweight solution. However, utilisation of composite action to achieve enhanced strength and economical design has been limited. In this study, finite element modelling was utilised to create a three-dimensional model which was then validated against experimental results for a composite flooring system consisting of cold-formed steel joists, reinforced concrete slab and steel bolt shear connectors. This validated numerical model was then utilised to perform parametric studies on the performance of the structural system. The results from the parametric study demonstrate that increased thickness of the concrete slab and increased thickness of the cold formed steel beam resulted in higher moment capacity and stiffness of the composite flooring system. In addition, reducing the spacing of bolts and spacing of the cold formed steel beams both resulted in enhanced load capacity of the composite system. Increasing the concrete grade was also found to increase the moment capacity of the composite flooring system. Overall, the results show that an efficient, lightweight composite flooring system can be achieved and optimised by selecting suitable concrete slab thickness, cold formed beam thickness, bolt spacing, cold formed beam spacing and concrete grade.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제27권5호
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• pp.545-554
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• 2018

This study presents a novel method of improving the strength and stiffness of cold-formed steel (CFS) beams. Flexural members are primary members in most of the structures. Hence, there is an urgent need in the CFS industry to look beyond the conventional CFS beam sections and develop novel techniques to address the severe local buckling problems that exist in CFS flexural members. The primary objective of this study was to develop new CFS composite beam sections with improved structural performance and economy. This paper presents an experimental study conducted on different CFS composite beams with simply supported end conditions under four point loading. Material properties and geometric imperfections of the models were measured. The test strengths of the models are compared with the design strengths predicted by using Australian/New Zealand Standard for cold-formed steel structures. Furthermore, to ensure high precision testing, a special testing rig was also developed for testing of long span beams. The description of test models, testing rig features and test results are presented here. For better interpretation of results, a comparison of the test results with a hot rolled section is also presented. The test results have shown that the proposed CFS composite beams are promising both in terms of better structural performance as well as economy.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제43권3호
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• pp.403-417
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• 2022

Recently, there has been an increasing demand for buildings that allow rapid assembly of construction elements, have ample open space areas and are flexible in their final intended use. Accordingly, researchers have developed new competitive structures in terms of cost and efficiency, such as cold-formed steel and timber composite floors, to satisfy these requirements. Cold-formed steel and timber composite floors are light floors with relatively high stiffness, which allow for longer spans. As a result, they inherently have lower fundamental natural frequency and lower damping. Therefore, they are likely to undergo unwanted vibrations under the action of human activities such as walking. It is also quite expensive and complex to implement vibration control measures on problematic floors. In this study, a finite element model of a composite floor reported in the literature was developed and validated against four-point bending test results. The validated FE model was then utilised to examine the vibration behaviour of the investigated composite floor. Predictions obtained from the numerical model were compared against predictions from analytical formulas reported in the literature. Finally, the influence of various parameters on the vibration behaviour of the composite floor was studied and discussed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제43권4호
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• pp.511-522
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• 2022

An experimental investigation to study the behaviour of connections between cold-formed steel (CFS) joist and plywood structural panel is presented in this paper. Material testing on CFS and plywood was carried out to assess their mechanical properties and behaviour. Push-out tests were conducted to determine the slip modulus and failure modes of three different shear connection types. The employed shear connectors in the study were; size 14 (6mm diameter) self-drilling screw, M12 coach screw, and M12 nut and bolt. The effective bending stiffness of composite cold-formed steel and plywood T-beam assembly is calculated based on the slip modulus values computed from push-out tests. The effective bending stiffness was increased by 25.5%, 18% and 30.2% for self-drilling screw, coach screw, nut and bolt, respectively, over the stiffness of cold-formed steel joist alone. This finding suggests the potential to enhance the structural performance of composite cold-formed steel and timber flooring system by mobilisation of composite action present between timber sheathing and CFS joist.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제34권2호
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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.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제42권3호
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• pp.315-323
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• 2022

Shear connectors are key elements that ensure integrity in a composite system. The primary purpose of a shear connector is to bring a high degree of interaction between composite elements. A wide variety of connectors are available for hot-rolled composite construction, connected to the beam through welding. However, with cold-formed members being very thin, welding of shear connectors is not desirable in cold-formed composite constructions. Shear connectors for cold-formed elements are limited in studies as well as in the market. Hence in this study, three different types of shear connectors, namely, single-channel, double channel, and self-tapping screw, were considered, and their performance assessed by the Push-out test as per Eurocode 4. The connection between channel shear connectors and the beam was made using self-tapping screws to avoid welding. The performance of the connectors was analyzed based on their ultimate capacity, characteristic capacity, ductility, and slippage during loading. Strength to weight ratio was also carried out to understand the proposed connectors' suitability for conventional ones. The results showed relatively higher initial stiffness and ductility for double channel connectors than other connectors. Also, self-tapping screws had a higher strength to weight ratio with low ductility.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.21-41
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• 2016

Cold-formed steel structures are increasingly attractive due to their benefits of good mechanical performance and constructional advantages. However, this type of construction is still not fully exploited as a result of the acknowledged difficulties involved in forming construction-efficient and cost-effective connections. Furthermore, there is a lack of information on the structural behavior of the cold-formed steel connections. In this study, the research on various cold-formed steel connections was comprehensively reviewed from both fundamental and structural points of view, based on the available experimental and analytical data. It reveals that the current design codes and guidelines for cold-formed steel connections tend to focus more on the individual bearing capacity of the fasteners rather than the overall structural behavior of the connections. Significant future work remains to be conducted on the structural performance of cold-formed steel connection. In addition, extensive previous research has been carried out to propose and evaluate an economical and efficient connection system that is obtained from the conventional connecting techniques used in the hot-rolled industry. These connecting techniques may not be suitable, however, as they have been adopted from hot-rolled steel portal frames due to the thinness of the sheet in cold-formed steels. The review demonstrates that with the increasing demand for cold-formed steel constructions throughout the world, it is crucial to develop an efficient connection system that can be prefabricated and easily assembled on site.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제5권6호
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• pp.515-533
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• 2005

Buckling and post-buckling of cold-formed steel members are rather difficult to predict due to material and geometrical non-linearity. However, numerical techniques have reached a level of maturity such that many are now successfully undertaking ultimate strength analysis of cold-formed steel members. In numerical non-linear analysis, both geometrical and material imperfections, have to be estimated and properly used. They must be codified in terms of shape and magnitude. The presented paper represents a state-of-art report, including relevant results obtained by the authors and collected from literature, on that problem.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제19권6호
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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.