Abstract
Cold-formed steel sections are often used as wall studs or floor joists; such sections often include web holes for ease of installation of the services. Cold-formed steel design codes, however, do not consider the effect of such web holes. In this paper, a combination of experimental tests and non-linear elasto-plastic finite element analyses are used to investigate the effect of such holes on web crippling under interior-two-flange (ITF) loading conditions; the cases of both flange fastened and flange unfastened are considered. A good agreement between the experimental tests and finite element analyses was obtained. The finite element model was then used for the purposes of a parametric study on the effect of different sizes and position of holes in the web. It was demonstrated that the main factors influencing the web crippling strength are the ratio of the hole depth to the depth of the web, and the ratio of the distance from the edge of the bearing to the flat depth of web. Design recommendations in the form of web crippling strength reduction factors are proposed, that are conservative to both the experimental and finite element results. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 76-86 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Thin-Walled Structures |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2012 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Channel section
- Cold-formed steel
- Design recommendations
- Finite element analysis
- Reduction factor
- Web crippling
- Web hole
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Civil and Structural Engineering
- Building and Construction
- Mechanical Engineering