A Eurocode‐compliant design approach for cold‐formed steel sections

Abstract

A Eurocode‐compliant design approach was developed for the design of thin‐walled cold‐formed steel sections which combines the AISI S100‐16‐Direct Strength Method (DSM) with the design provisions of EN 1993‐1‐3. The new design approach transfers the cross‐sectional resistance determined acc. to DSM based on numerical elastic buckling analyses on the gross cross‐section into the global member verification acc. to EN 1993‐1‐3. Additional factors were introduced to optimize the new approach, e.g., to account for the effects of the nonlinear stress distribution in cross‐sections subject to local and/or distortional buckling. Within the framework of the German research project FOSTA P1328/IGF 19964, an extensive series of tests on differently shaped, perforated, and unperforated cold‐formed sections in compression and bending were conducted which serve to analyze the buckling phenomena and the load‐bearing capacity and to validate the new design approach. In addition, a numerical model was developed, calibrated to the tests, and used for further parametric analyses on the load‐bearing capacity of cold‐formed sections.