KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering (2015) 19(7):2108-2115 Structural Engineering

Copyright ⓒ2015 Korean Society of Civil Engineers

DOI 10.1007/s12205-015-1221-3 pISSN 1226-7988, eISSN 1976-3808
www.springer.com/12205
TECHNICAL NOTE

Behaviour of Stiffened Cold-Formed Steel Built-up Sections

with Complex Edge Stiffeners under Bending
P. Manikandan* and S. Sukumar**
Received April 30, 2014/Revised August 28, 2014/Accepted September 28, 2014/Published Online April 13, 2015

··································································································································································································································

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the effect of stiffened element at the flange/web junction and complex edge stiffener in behaviour and
strength of built-up cold-formed steel flexural members. An extensive experimental investigation and a finite element analysis of
stiffened built-up cold-formed beam sections with complex stiffeners under two point loading is presented. A nonlinear finite element
model is developed and verified against test results. All the results are compared with the design strength calculated using the North
American Iron and Steel Institute Specification for cold-formed steel structures (AISI: S100, 2007). Following the validation, an
extensive finite element parametric study is conducted to study the influences of a range of parameters, and the results are compared
with the nominal design strength by AISI: S100 (2007) and suitable recommendation are made.
Keywords: cold-formed steel, flexural members, stiffened element, edge stiffeners, FEA, design curve
··································································································································································································································

1. Introduction An experimental investigation on the strength and behaviour

Under bending, cold-formed steel beams can exhibit different
modes of instabilities, namely local, distortional, web buckling,
flexural bending, lateral-torsional buckling and interaction between
them or among the above buckling modes. The predominant
failure modes of the beam are local and distortional buckling.
This mode of failure can be delayed/eliminated to have a
significant change in strength and behaviour of the flexural
members. The closed and open sections are the most common in
the industry. A new design concept for cold-formed built-up steel
beams is introduced by adding the stiffened element at the flange
/web junction and edge stiffeners at the flanges, to provide a
significant change in flexural strength and behaviour of the
beams.
A series of new flexural tests focused on the role of web
slenderness in local buckling failures of cold-formed steel C, Z
section flexural members were reported by Yu and Schafer
(2003). Yu and Schafer (2006) conducted a series of flexural
tests on industrial standard cold-formed steel C and Z sections
with an intermediate length of unbraced members. All these
specimens failed in distortional buckling. Schafer et al. (2006)
developed a finite element model for the flexural behaviour of
cold-formed steel channel section with complex edge stiffeners
subjected to pure bending and provide suitable recommendations
on the design of cold-formed steel members that employ
complex edge stiffeners.
of cold-formed steel Z-beams with complex edge stiffeners
(consisting of simple and return lip) subjected to major axis
bending was studied by Nguyen et al. (2006). Wang and Zhang
(2009) studied the flexural behaviour of a series of innovative
cold-formed steel C-section beams with upright, inclined and
complex edge stiffeners. Pastor and Roure (2009) presented the
finite element investigation on cold-formed steel open U-
section and sigma-section subjected to pure bending.
Experimental and numerical analysis of the inelastic bending
behaviour of the cold-formed channel section with (upright and
complex edge stiffeners) or without lips were performed by
Maduliat et al. (2012). Kankanamge and Mahendran (2012)
developed a finite element model (ABAQUS) for lateral-
torsional buckling behaviour of cold-formed steel lipped
channel beams subjected to uniform bending. He gave the
guidelines for the maximum and minimum size of lips. They
also proposed three design curve based on the moment
capacities.
Haidarali and Nethercot (2012a; 2012b) conducted a parametric
study on cold-formed steel beams with edge-stiffened flanges
subjected to pure bending using the finite element analysis
software ABAQUS. The results indicated that the lip size-to-
flange width ratio and the angle of inclination of the edge
stiffener significantly affected the strength and behaviour of the
specimens. Haidarali and Nethercot (2012) did numerical
investigations on cold-formed steel beams with both edge and

*Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, K.S. Rangasamy College of Technology, Namakkal-637-215, Tamil Nadu, India (Corresponding Author,
E-mail: lp_mani@yahoo.com)
**Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Government College of Engineering, Salem-636-011, Tamil Nadu, India (E-mail: sukumar_237@yahoo.co.in)

− 2108 −
 Behaviour of Stiffened Cold-Formed Steel Built-up Sections with Complex Edge Stiffeners under Bending
intermediate stiffeners in their compression flanges. The shape,
size and position of the intermediate stiffeners significantly
affected the stability of the cold-formed steel members.
The flexural strength and behaviour of cold-formed steel
members can be improved in a variety of ways. The predominant
failure mode of the beam is local and distortional buckling. This
mode of failure can be delayed / eliminated to have a significant
change in behaviour and strength of the flexural members.
Compression flanges with unstiffened edges do not perform well
under flexure due to the vertical displacement of the unstiffened
edges/distortional buckling. A stiffened element at the flange/
web junction and edge stiffener provides longitudinal support to
the compression flange, can increase strength and improve its
behaviour.
Based on the literature review, a limited research work is
available on the flexural behaviour of cold formed steel built-
up sections. The present study is being conducted to analyse
the flexural behaviour of unstiffened and stiffened cold-
formed steel built-up section with complex edge stiffeners
having the same cross-sectional area with different geometric
cross-sectional profile.
A series of flexural tests focused on the unstiffened and
stiffened cold-formed steel built-up section with or without
edge stiffeners and bending status is reported in this investigation
(Fig. 1). The study involves both experimental and numerical
investigations (ANSYS). The developed finite element model is
validated by the experimental results. Following the validation, a
range of influential parameters is investigated to study their effects
on strength and behaviour of the beams under bending. The
results obtained from the experiments and finite element
analyses are compared with the design strength predicted from
the North American Iron and Steel Institute Specification for
cold-formed steel structures (AISI:S100, 2007). Finally, the
suitability of the current design methods (AISI) and a suitable
design recommendation for stiffened built-up cold-formed steel
section is provided.
Fig. 1. Cross-section and Definition of Symbols: (a) USB, (b) SB,
(c) Details of Specimen
Vol. 19, No. 7 / November 2015
2. Experimental Program
2.1 Test Section
The experimental programme involves fabrication of two
series of cold-formed steel built-up section formed from locally
available 2 mm thick cold rolled steel sheets with a yield stress of
270 MPa, Poisson’s ratio of 0.3 and young’s modulus of 2.04E5MPa.
It consists of a unstiffened built-up beam with complex edge
stiffeners (USB-C) and stiffened built-up beam with complex
edge stiffeners (SB-C).
2.2 Selection of Section
To eliminate the occurrence of local buckling, the cross-
sectional dimensions are fixed based on the AISI specification
for the cold-formed steel structures and to cover the practical
range of channel section beams currently used in the industry.
The section geometries and dimensions are chosen in such a way
that all the types of buckling modes are met.
Table 1 shows the cross-sectional dimensions of the cold-
formed steel built-up open section and the nomenclature is
defined in Fig. 1. The primary (USB-C) is an unstiffened built-up
beam with complex edge stiffener (Fig. 1(a)), second (SB-C) is a
stiffened built-up beam with complex edge stiffener (Fig. 1(b)).
Specimen labelling rules as illustrated in Fig. 2.
The built-up members are composed of two cold-formed
sections with or without stiffened channel profile back to back,
which forms an I-section beam with complex edge stiffeners by
using bolted connection with a spacing (S) of 150 mm (Fig. 1(c))
and to avoid bearing failure, bearing plates are provided at
supports and loading points as shown in Fig. 3(a). The Length
(L) and height of the web (H) are changed, keeping the position
of the stiffened element (θ), size of stiffened element (A), flange
width (B) and lip size (C, E) constant. The values for θ, A, B, C,
E and t are taken as 600, 15 mm, 35, 15 mm, 15 mm and 2 mm
respectively. The length (L) and height of the web (H) ranges
from 1800 mm to 3000 mm and 150 mm to 300 mm respectively.
2.3 Test Setup and Instrumentation
All the beams are tested in a loading frame of capacity 200 kN
under simply supported end conditions with two point loading.
Specimens are painted and levelled, to apply the load vertically.
The beam is laterally restrained at the supports for the lateral
movement. The overall stability of the experimental setup is
verified and a small amount of preload is applied to seat the
Fig. 2. Specimen Labeling
− 2109 −
 P. Manikandan and S. Sukumar

Table 1. Measured Specimen Dimensions and Comparisons of Results

Description of the specimens Flexural Strength (kN.m) MANSYS MAISI Failure
---------------- -----------
-
Test Series Description ID MEXP MANSYS MAISI MEXP MEXP Modes
USB-C-H150W80T2L2300 USB-C1 11.57 11.29 8.53 0.98 0.74 LTB
SB-C-H150W80T2L1800 SB-C1 9.09 9.30 11.02 1.02 1.21 BF
T1
SB-C-H150W80T2L2300 SB-C2 9.89 11.40 12.46 1.15 1.26 BF
SB-C-H150W80T2L3000 SB-C3 4.87 5.58 5.15 1.15 1.06 BF
USB-C-H200W80T2L2300 USB-C2 16.68 12.30 12.37 0.74 0.74 LTB
SB-C-H200W80T2L1800 SB-C4 12.93 11.73 12.24 0.91 0.95 BF
T2
SB-C-H200W80T2L2300 SB-C5 11.29 12.44 13.87 1.10 1.23 BF
SB-C-H200W80T2L3000 SB-C6 6.81 8.16 7.31 1.20 1.07 BF
USB-C-H250W80T2L2300 USB-C3 20.13 21.45 16.51 1.07 0.82 LTB
SB-C-H250W80T2L1800 SB-C7 12.63 13.07 13.79 1.04 1.09 BF
T3
SB-C-H250W80T2L2300 SB-C8 16.41 15.71 16.42 0.96 1.00 BF
SB-C-H300W80T2L3000 SB-C9 9.73 10.88 9.40 1.12 0.97 BF
USB-C-H300W80T2L2300 USB-C4 26.76 23.40 20.92 0.87 0.78 LTB
SB-C-H300W80T2L1800 SB-C10 14.10 14.49 15.21 1.03 1.08 BF
T4
SB-C-H300W80T2L2300 SB-C11 16.59 18.19 20.48 1.10 1.23 BF
SB-C-H250W80T2L3000 SB-C12 10.86 13.65 11.45 1.26 1.05 BF
Mean 1.04 1.02
Standard Deviation 0.13 0.18
(BF-Bending Failure, LTB-Lateral-Torsional Buckling)

specimen in position and released. All the instruments are

initialized and load is applied with a hydraulic jack of 200 kN
capacity. All the necessary data such as the applied load and the
deformation of the specimen are recorded using the data
acquisition system. All the tests are carried out up to failure.

3. Numerical Investigation Using ANSYS Soft-

ware

The finite element non-linear analysis software ANSYS version

12 is used to predict the flexural strength and behaviour of the
proposed built-up beam section. The results obtained from numerical
analysis are validated through the experimental results.
The sections that are experimented under flexure have been
modelled and analysed. To simulate the buckling behaviour of
the built-up section, an approximate and idealized mid-line
model with four node shell-181 elements are chosen. This
element is well suitable for analysing the linear deflection, large
rotation and large strain nonlinear capabilities. In this study,
coupling option is used where the connection is necessary (Ren
et al., 2006; Xu et al., 2009; Pastor and Roure, 2009). The effect
of cold-forming and residual stress is not incorporated in the
Fig. 3. Details of Finite Element Model: (a) Longitudinal View, (b)
model. A series of mesh of convergence studies are carried out to
Connection between Channel Section, (c) Connection
establish a suitable mesh size for the analyses of the proposed between Channel Section and Bearing Plates, (d) Finite
built-up sections (Figs. 3(a), 3(b) and 3(c)). All the specimens are Element Model
analysed under simply supported end condition with two point
loading.
Two types of analysis are carried out. Initially, an eigenvalue model, where as the second is static nonlinear buckling analysis
elastic buckling analysis is performed to obtain the buckling (static with large deflection). The material and geometric
loads and the associated the buckling modes of the specimen nonlinearity are incorporated in the nonlinear buckling analysis.
with the purpose of considering geometric imperfections in the The geometric imperfection is not measured in the experimental

− 2110 − KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering

 Behaviour of Stiffened Cold-Formed Steel Built-up Sections with Complex Edge Stiffeners under Bending

program and hence the magnitude of L/1000 is used in the FEA

as suggested by Kankanamge and Mahendran (2012) and Xu et
al. (2009). In order to account for the elastic-perfectly plastic
properties, a bilinear stress-strain curve is adopted, having a
tangent modulus of 20000 N/mm2.

4. Results and Discussions

Results obtained from the experiments and finite element

analysis (ANSYS) are compared with the design strength
calculated by using the AISI Specifications for the cold-formed
steel structures (Table 1).The flexural strength is determined by
the change in slope of the log of load deflection curves. The
same procedure is employed for all the specimens and the results
are tabulated in the Table 1. For example, the load-deflection
curve and failure mode for some of the specimen is shown in
Fig. 4. The load-deflection curves and failure modes obtained
from the finite element analysis are in good agreement with the
test results as demonstrated in Fig. 4 and 5 respectively. Similar
results are obtained for all the other specimens.
Though in T1 series all the specimens have same cross-
sectional area, USB-C1 has failed under lateral torsional buckling
and SB-C1, SB-C2 and SB-C3 have failed under flexural bending.
The maximum flexural strength of these are approximately 77%
of the yield strength of the SB-C2 section, 71% of the yield
strength of the SB-C1 section and 38% of the yield strength of Fig. 5 Failure Mode of Specimen USB-C3
the SB-C3 section.
Similarly, in T2 series all the specimens have an equal cross-
sectional area, in which SB-C4, SBC-5 and SB-C6 are failed by strength in case of SB-C10, SB-C11 and SB-C12 sections and
flexural bending and flexural strength are 70%, 61% and 37% of 85% of yield strength in the case of USB-C4 section.It is
the yield strength respectively. But specimen USB-C2 is failed observed that, keeping the length and cross sectional area is
by lateral torsional buckling and flexural strength is 94 % yield same, by introducing a stiffened element at the flange/web
strength respectively. junction, increases the bending strength and improves the overall
Specimens SB-C7, SB-C8 and SB-C9 are failed by flexural behaviour i.e. Lateral torsional buckling to flexural bending. This
bending and flexural strength are 51%, 66% and 39% of the is due to the increase in the moment of inertia about a
yield strength respectively, while specimen USB-C3 (Fig. 5) is symmetrical axis and the increase in resistance against the
failed by lateral torsional buckling and flexural strength is 83% torsional buckling.
of yield strength but all the specimens have equal cross-sectional The average MANSYS and MEXP ratio is 1.04 with a standard
area. In T2 series, except USB-C4all others have failed by deviation of 0.13. The average MAISI/MANSYS ratio equals to 1.02
flexural bending and USB-C4 has failed under lateral torsional with a standard deviation of 0.18.
buckling. The maximum flexural strength is 52% of the yield
5. Parametric Studies on Stiffened Built-up Beam
with Complex Edge Stiffener

The developed finite element model is used for an extensive

Fig. 4. Load Deflection Curves-USB-C3
parametric study to investigate the effects of the change in cross-
sectional geometries such as the length of the member (L),
spacing of bolts (S), sectional depth (H), flange width (W) and
thickness (t) of the section on the flexural behaviour of the
stiffened cold-formed steel built-up section with complex edge
stiffener.
The details of the specimen are shown in Fig. 1(b) and
specimen labelling rules are defined in Fig. 2. To delay/minimize
the local and distortional buckling and to ensure the flexural

Vol. 19, No. 7 / November 2015 − 2111 −

 P. Manikandan and S. Sukumar

bending, the entire parametric study, size of the stiffened element
at the flange/web junction (A), the position of the stiffened
element (θ) and dimension of the lips (C&E), flange width of the
section (W), length of the member (L) and bolt spacing (S) are
taken as 15 mm, 15 mm, 600, 80 mm, 2300 mm and 150 mm
respectively (changes are specified in appropriate places). The
depth of the sections (H) are changed to 150 mm, 200 mm and
250 mm, thickness of the sections (t) are taken as 1.6 mm, 2 mm
and 3 mm.
5.1 Effect of Bolt Spacing (S) Variation on Stiffened Beam
with Complex Edge Stiffener
Totally 81 finite element analysis are conducted to arriving
optimum spacing of bolts and the effect of the bolt spacing (S) on

Fig. 6. Variations in Strength Capacities-Parametric Study: (a) Bolt Spacing-1.6 mm Thickness, (b) Bolt Spacing-2 mm Thickness, (c) Bolt
Spacing-3 mm Thickness, (d) Width Variation-2 mm Thickness, (e) Width Variation-3 mm Thickness, (f) Thickness Variation

− 2112 − KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering

 Behaviour of Stiffened Cold-Formed Steel Built-up Sections with Complex Edge Stiffeners under Bending
the MANSYS/MY ratio is demonstrated in Figs. 6(a) to 6(c) for nine
bolt spacing (50 mm to 450 mm with an increment of 50 mm) and
three section thickness (1.6 mm, 2 mm and 3 mm). From Fig. 6(a)
to Fig. 6(c), it can be observed that the MANSYS/MY ratio increases
with the increase in the spacing of bolt (S) and MANSYS/MY ratio is
reduced by the increasing spacing of bolt(S).
From this, it is concluded that the spacing of bolt decreases, the
predicted flexural strength of the sections increases which may
be contributed by the reduction of the buckling length of the
section and enhancement of load sharing between the two
stiffened channel sections and improves their overall behaviour.
The result shows that the flexural strength of the sections is
influenced by the bolt spacing to some extent. From this
parametric study, it is concluded that to delay/minimize the local
and distortional buckling and to ensure the flexural bending on
the stiffened cold formed built-up beams with complex edge
stiffener, the optimum bolt spacing is 150 mm.
5.2 Effect of Flange Width Variation (W) on Stiffened Beam
with Complex Edge Stiffener
Figures 6(d) and 6(e) demonstrates the relationship between
the sectional depth (H) and the normalized ratio of the flexural
strength to the yield strength of the beam (MANSYS/MY) for
different values of W/t ratio and different thickness (1.6 mm,
2 mm and 3 mm) while keeping all other factors same for each
finite element analysis with a bolt spacing of 150 mm.
From Fig. 6(d), it can be observed that for 2 mm thickness the
MANSYS/MY ratio increases with the increase in the flange width-
to-thickness ratio (W/t) and MANSYS/MY ratio is reduced by the
increasing W/t ratio. Because of the increase in the flange width-
to-thickness ratio, the local buckling occurs at the flange. But for
3 mm (Fig. 6(e)) thickness, the MANSYS/MY ratio increases with an
increase in the flange width-to-thickness ratio (W/t). From this
parametric study, it is observed that the flange width-to-thickness
ratio (W/t) of the section have a significant effect on the flexural
strength and behaviour of the beam.
Fig. 7. Effect of Length Variation in Strength Capacities - Parametric Study: (a) Length Variation-2 mm Thickness, (b) Length Variation-3
mm Thickness
Vol. 19, No. 7 / November 2015
5.3 Effect of Thickness Variation (t) on Stiffened Beam with
Complex Edge Stiffener
In this parametric study, all the beams have a bolt spacing (S) of
150 mm and flange width (W) of 80 mm while keeping all other
parameters are constant. The normalized ratio MANSYS/MY of the
beams are influenced by various parameters and are graphically
represented in the following subsections. The effect of thickness
variation (t) and MANSYS/MY ratio is demonstrated in Fig. 6(f) for
three depth of the sections (150 mm, 200 mm and 250 mm) and
three sectional thickness (1.6 mm, 2 mm and 3 mm). It is observed
that for a particular sectional thickness, MANSYS/MY ratio increases
with an increase in the depth of the section and MANSYS/MY ratio is
reduced by increasing the depth of the section.
5.4 Effect of Length Variation (L) on Stiffened Beam with
Complex Edge Stiffener
The effect of the length of the member and MANSYS/MY ratio is
demonstrated in Fig. 7 for three lengths (1800 mm, 2300 mm
and 3000 mm) and three depth of the sections (150 mm, 200
mm, 250 mm and 300 mm) with two thickness of the sections
(2 mm and 3 mm). All the beams are failed by flexural bending.
It is observed that the length of the member has a significant
effect on the flexural strength and behaviour of the beams. From
these figures, it can be observed that for all the sections, MANSYS/
MY ratio decreases with an increase in the member length i.e
longer the beam length, lower the flexural strength.
Also, it is observed that the bolt spacing (S), length of the
member (L), flange width-to-thickness ratio (W/t) and depth of
the section (H) and thickness (t) of the section have a significant
effect on the flexural strength and behaviour of the stiffened
cold-formed built-up steel beam with complex edge stiffener.
MAISI/MEXP (Table 1) and MAISI/MANSYS ratio (Table 2) is greater
than unity except for one or two cases, which shows that the
AISI design Specifications over estimates the flexural capacity
of the stiffened cold-formed steel built-up sections with complex
edge stiffener, a new design expression is proposed.
− 2113 −
 P. Manikandan and S. Sukumar

Table 2. Comparison of FEA and AISI Results

Details of the Specimen MAISI/MANSYS Details of the Specimen MAISI/MANSYS
SB-C-H150W80T1.6L2300 0.83 SB-C-H150W80T3L1800 1.29
SB-C-H200W80T1.6L2300 1.06 SB-C-H200W80T3L1800 1.30
SB-C-H250W80T1.6L2300 1.10 SB-C-H250W80T3L1800 1.06
SB-C-H150W80T2L2300 1.09 SB-C-H150W80T3L3000 1.07
SB-C-H200W80T2L2300 1.11 SB-C-H200W80T3L3000 1.15
SB-C-H250W80T2L2300 1.05 SB-C-H250W80T3L3000 1.12
SB-C-H300W80T2L2300 1.13 SB-C-H150W95T2L2300 1.10
SB-C-H150W80T2L1800 1.18 SB-C-H200W95T2L2300 1.04
SB-C-H200W80T2L1800 1.30 SB-C-H250W95T2L2300 1.35
SB-C-H250W80T2L1800 1.36 SB-C-H150W110T2L2300 0.98
SB-C-H300W80T2L1800 1.22 SB-C-H200W110T2L2300 1.13
SB-C-H150W80T2L3000 0.92 SB-C-H250W110T2L2300 1.31
SB-C-H200W80T2L3000 0.90 SB-C-H150W95T3L2300 1.04
SB-C-H250W80T2L3000 0.86 SB-C-H200W95T3L2300 1.26
SB-C-H300W80T2L3000 0.84 SB-C-H250W95T3L2300 1.21
SB-C-H150W80T3L2300 1.29 SB-C-H300W95T3L2300 1.17
SB-C-H200W80T3L2300 1.11 SB-C-H150W110T3L2300 0.88
SB-C-H250W80T3L2300 1.16 SB-C-H200W110T3L2300 1.02
SB-C-H300W80T3L2300 1.26 SB-C-H250W110T3L2300 1.18
Mean 1.13 Standard Deviation 0.15

Table 3. Verification of the Design Curve Results

Design
Flexural
Strength MDESIGN
S.No Specimen Strength
(MDESIGN) /M
(M) kN.m
kN.m
1 SB-C-H150W80T2L3300-A 6.60 6.00 0.91
2 SB-C-H200W80T2L3300-A 8.50 8.42 0.99
3 SB-C-H250W80T2L3300-A 10.26 9.82 0.96
4 8.5Z073-4E3W-Yu et al. (2003) 15.10 13.21 0.87
5 11.5Z092-1E2W-Yu et al. (2003) 39.80 34.97 0.88
6 8C068-4E5W-Yu et al. (2003) 11.70 9.33 0.80
7 8C054-1E8W-Yu et al. (2003) 6.30 5.52 0.88

Equation (1) is a parabolic fit (Fig. 8) of USB-C and SB-C

experimental results.
Fig. 8. Design Curve for Flexural Strength of Built-up Section The validity of this proposed design equation is further investigated
through additional finite element analysis models and the design
curve results are also verified by the test results available from
5.5 Design Curve literature (Yu and Schafer, 2003) as listed in Table 3 and are
Based on the experiments, finite element analysis and theoretical found to agree well with test results.
investigations, a design curve (Fig. 8) and simplified design
formula are proposed for determining the flexural strength of the 6. Conclusions
stiffened cold-formed steel built-up section with complex edge
stiffener and is thus given in Eq. (1): The following conclusions are drawn from the present
investigation.
My My
MDesign = M y ⎛ 0.460 ----------- - + 2.348⎞
- – 1.98 ----------- (1) 1. Design of stiffened cold-formed steel built-up beams with
⎝ MAISI MAISI ⎠
complex edge stiffeners requires consideration of flexural
where, bending and lateral-torsional buckling.
MAISI = Nominal flexural strength using AISI 2. For a given shape, depending upon slenderness limits, a
MDesign = Design flexural strength variety of failure mode is possible; continuous, purely flex-
My = Yield strength ural bending behaviour and in exceptional cases lateral-tor-

− 2114 − KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering

 Behaviour of Stiffened Cold-Formed Steel Built-up Sections with Complex Edge Stiffeners under Bending
sional instability.
3. For a given shape, depending upon slenderness limits, a
variety of failure mode is possible; continuous, purely flex-
ural bending behaviour and in exceptional cases lateral-tor-
sional instability.
4. Keeping the length and cross sectional area same by adding
the stiffened element at the flange/web junction, it has a sig-
nificant effect on the strength and behaviour of the beam,
which is due to the increase in the moment of inertia about a
symmetrical axis and the increase in resistance against tor-
sional buckling. Unstiffened beams have deformed more as
compared to the stiffened beams.
5. Adding the stiffened element at the flange/web junction and
edge stiffeners at the flange has a significant effect on the
flexural strength and behaviour of the beams.
6. In case of purely unstiffened element with complex edge
stiffener assemblies,it fails by lateral torsional buckling,
whereas in case of stiffened cold-formed steel built-up
beams with complex edge stiffener which performed well
against local and distortional buckling, fails by flexural
bending and carry more loads compared to other sections.
7. The stiffened element at the flange/web junction and edge
stiffeners are also contributing appreciably to flexural strength
and behaviour of the beams. That is the distortional strength
of stiffened element and edge stiffener contributes much
towards the overall strength of the flexural members.
8. The finite element model using ANSYS software is accurate
in predicting the strength and behaviour of the beams.
Therefore, the finite element analysis can be used with a
high level of confidence in predicting the load capacity of
the flexural member.
9. The design capacity predicted by using the North American
Iron and Steel Institute Specifications for the cold-formed
steel structures (AISI: S100, 2007) has overestimated for all
the sections when compared with the results from the exper-
iment and finite element analysis. A design expression has
been proposed for the stiffened cold-formed steel built-up
section with complex edge stiffeners and it can reasonably
predict the flexural strength of the members.
References
AISI: S100 (2007). Specification for the design of cold-formed steel
structural members, American Iron and Steel Institute.
Vol. 19, No. 7 / November 2015
Haidarali, M. R. and Nethercot, D. A. (2012). “Local and distortional
buckling of cold-formed steel beams with both edge and intermediate
stiffeners in their compression flanges.” Thin-walled Structures, Vol.
54, pp. 106-112, DOI: 10.1016/j.tws.2012.02.013.
Haidarali, M. R. and Nethercot, D. A. (2012). “Local and distortional
buckling of cold-formed steel beams with edge stiffened flanges.”
Journal of Constructional Steel Research, Vol. 73, pp. 31-42, DOI:
10.1016/j.jcsr.2012.01.006.
Kankanamge, N. D. and Mahendran, M. (2012). “Behaviour and design
of cold-formed steel beams subject to lateral - torsional buckling.”
Thin Walled Structures, Vol. 51, pp. 25-38, DOI: 10.1016/j.tws.2011.
10.012.
Maduliat, S., Bambach., M. R., and Zhao, X. L. (2012). “Inelastic behavior
and design of cold-formed channel sections in bending.” Thin-
Walled Structures, Vol. 51, pp. 158-166, DOI: 10.1016/
j.tws.2011.10.011.
Nguyen, N. T. B., Fung, T. C., and Young, B. (2006). “Strength and
behaviour of cold-formed steel z-sections subjected to major axis
bending.” Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE, Vol, 132, No.
10, pp. 1632-1640, DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9455(2006)132:10
(1632).
Pastor, M. M. and Roure, F. (2009). “Open cross-section beam under
pure bending II. Finite element simulation.” Thin-Walled Structures,
Vol. 47, No. 5, pp. 514-521, DOI: 10.1016/j.tws.2008.10.021.
Ren, W. X., Fang, S. E., and Young, B. (2006). “Finite-element simulation
and design of cold-formed steel channels subjected to web
crippling.” Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 132, No.
12, pp. 1967-975, DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE) 0733-9455(2006)132:
12(1967).
Schafer, B. W., Sarawit, A., and Pekoz, T. (2006). “Complex edge stiffeners
for thin-walled members.” Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE,
Vol, 132, No. 2, pp. 212-226, DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9455
(2006)132:2(212).
Wang, H. and Zhang, Y. (2009). “Experimental and numerical investigation
on cold-formed steel C-section flexural members.” Journal of
Constructional Steel Research, Vol. 65, No. 5, pp. 1225-1235, DOI:
10.1016/j.jcsr.2008.08.007.
Xu, L., Sultana, P., and Zhou, X. (2009). “Flexural strength of cold-
formed steel built-up sections.” Thin Walled structures, Vol. 47, Nos.
6-7, pp. 807-815, DOI: 10.1016/j.tws.2009.01.005.
Yu, C. and Schafer, B. W. (2003). “Local buckling tests on cold-formed
steel beams.” Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 129,
No. 12, pp. 1596-1606, DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9455(2003)
129:12(1596).
Yu, C. and Schafer, B. W. (2006) “Distortional buckling tests on cold-
formed steel beams.” Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE, Vol.
132, No. 4, pp. 515-528, DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9455(2006)
132:4(515).
− 2115 −