The Investigation of the Behavior and Strength of Cold-Formed Steel Wall Frame under Compression

• Main Authors: Chien-Li Chen, 陳建利
• Other Authors: Chi-Ling Pan
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2003
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/07187151693195273679

碩士 === 朝陽科技大學 === 營建工程系碩士班 === 91 === The role of bracing utilized in the cold-formed steel wall framing not only can connect studs but also can increase the axial loads. It is necessary to use the bracing for walls higher than 3 m. The wall framing system used in the domestic market are most in the residential and commercial buildings. Different from other countries, channel bridging as the type of bracing and silicate boards as the wall sheathing are very common to observe in Taiwan. Therefore, it is important and interested to investigate the behavior of the domestic cold-formed steel wall framing system. Cold-formed steel wall framing consists of several wall studs acting as columns, top and bottom tracks and bracing members. In the assembly of wall framing, self-drilling screws are used to connect tracks and bracing members to the studs. This study is concentrated on the strength of cold-formed steel wall framing with or without bracing. The comparisons were made between the test results and the predictions computed based on AISI-Code and AS/NZS 4600-Code. The effective length factors for the cold-formed steel framing under compression are not clearly defined and provided in the related specification. The suggested effective length factors are proposed according to the test evaluation. A software named SAP2000 was also conducted to simulate the behavior of wall framing in this research. Based on the test results, the strength of cold-formed steel wall framing was found to be increased by using bracing, and the buckling mode was observed to be different due to the change of bracing type. Several other factors such as member length, member dimension, and material thickness can affect the strength of cold-formed steel wall framing. In addition, the spacing of wall studs is also a important factor to the strength of wall framing.