J. Construct. Steel Res. Vol. 46, Nos. l-3, pp.

169-171, paper number 98, 1998

01998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
Printed in Great Britain
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ELSEVIER

Computer Design of Cold-Formed C- and Z-Section

Purlins
J.P. Papangelis,

G.J. Hancock

and N.S. Trahair

Centre for Advanced Structural Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering,

of Sydney, N.S.W., 2006, Australia

University

Paper Number 98
Full paper on enclosed CD-ROM

Cold-formed C- and Z-section purlins are typically used in roof and wall
systems to support sheeting (Yu 1991, Hancock 1998). Screw fasteners are
used to attach the sheeting to the purlin, with the purlin in turn bolted to cleats
welded to the main load-bearing members of the frame. Cold-formed purlins
are normally manufactured by roll forming a thin strip of steel to the required
section shape. The steel is usually coated with zinc or zinc/aluminium and
may have a yield stress in the range 250-550 MPa. In Australia, the depth
of standard cold-formed C- and Z-sections ranges from 100-350 mm, while
the thickness varies from 1.0-3.2 mm.
Cold-formed purlins are frequently required to withstand high bending
moments as a result of wind forces acting on the sheeting. Z-sections often
have one broad and one narrow flange so that two purlins can be lapped at
a support, thus increasing the strength of the purlin at this region of high
moment and shear. Because of their low torsional stiffness, purlins may
undergo flexural-torsional buckling (Trahair 1993) or non-linear twisting
(Rousch and Hancock 1997) during bending. Bracing at discrete points along
purlins is often used to increase the flexural-torsional buckling resistance. In
addition, distortional buckling (Hancock 1997) may occur in the unsheeted
compression flanges of braced purlins under wind uplift.
In Australia and New Zealand, the design of cold-formed purlins is performed according to the Australian/New Zealand Cold-Formed Steel Structures
Standard AS/NZS 4600 (1996). This standard is based on the Specification
of the American Iron and Steel Institute (1996), but also incorporates rules
for distortional buckling of both flexural and compression members and allows
steels with yield stresses as high as 550 MPa to be used. Although the AISI
Specification is published in both limit states and allowable stress design format, the Australian/New Zealand standard only permits design by the limit
states method.
169

J.P. Papangeliset al

Out-of-plonr

doflodon u

Load factor

- 3.9294

Mode number 1

Fig. 1. Out-of-plane

buckled shape of 3-span lapped Z-purlin

In the above standards, the design rules for cold-formed purlins are quite
complex and engineers will experience difficulty if they try to obtain results
by hand calculation. In particular, the calculation of effective section properties can be very tedious and time consuming. Design aids such as computer
programs are essential for the efficient use of these design standards.
This paper presents a summary of the design rules for cold-formed C- and
Z-section purlins in AS/NZS 4600. The paper also describes the user-friendly
computer program PRPELB (1997) for the limit states design of cold-formed
purlins according to AWNZS 4600. The program first performs a flexuraltorsional buckling analysis of the purlin, which can be subjected to any type
of loading (Papangelis et al. 1998). The program can also take account of the
height of the load, and of the restraining effects caused by bracing and roof
sheeting. The results of the buckling analysis are then used to design the
purlin. The R-factor design method which accounts for torsional restraint from
sheeting may be used in lieu of the flexural-torsional buckling analysis if it
is believed that the sheeting and its fasteners satisfy the requirements of
ASINZS 4600. 0 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

ComputerDesign of Cold-Formed C- and Z-Section Purlins

171

KEYWORDS
Buckling, cold-formed, computer, design, program, purlin, software, standard.

REFERENCES
1. American Iron and Steel Institute (1996). Specijication for the Design of ColdFormed Steel Structural Members, Washington.
2. ASRVZS 4600:1996, Cold-Formed Steel Structures, Standards Australia/Standards
New Zealand, Sydney/Wellington.
3. Hancock, G.J., Design for distortional buckling of flexural members, Thin-Walled
Structures, 1997, 27(l), 3-12.
4. Hancock, G.J. (1998). Design of Cold-Formed

Steel Structures, 3rd Edition, Australian Institute of Steel Construction, Sydney.

5. Papangelis, J.P., T&air, N.S. and Hancock, G.J., Elastic flexural-torsional buckling of structures by computer, Computers and Structures, 1998 (to be published).
6. PRPELB, Finite Element Flexural-Torsional Buckling Analysis of Plane Frames,
Users Manual, Centre for Advanced Structural Engineering, University of Sydney, 1997.
7. Rousch, C.J. and Hancock, G.J., Comparison of tests of bridged and unbridged
purlins with a non-linear analysis model, Jounal of Constructional Steel Research,
1997, 41(2/3), 197-220.
8. Trahair, N.S. (1993). Flexural-Torsional

Buckling of Structures, E & FN Spon,

London,
9. Yu, W.W. (1991). Cold-Formed Steel Design, 2nd Edition, Wiley, New York.