Shear Strength Experiments and Design of Cold-Formed Steel Channels with Web Holes
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 146, Issue 1
Abstract
In the latest North American specification for the design of cold-formed steel (CFS) structural members and the Australian/New Zealand standard for cold-formed steel structures, an empirical approach is specified to design beams with web holes in shear. Recently, an alternative based on the direct strength method (DSM) of design for shear for perforated beams with the aspect ratio (shear-span/web-depth) of 1.0 has been proposed. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the proposal and an experimental validation using results from a test series on channels with a shear span aspect ratio of 2.0 and with various square and circular web opening sizes conducted at the University of Sydney, and other experimental data collected from the literature. It is proven that the earlier proposal reliably predicts the shear strength of CFS perforated members with central square and circular web holes and with an aspect ratio up to 2.0. An approximate equation to determine shear buckling coefficients is derived to allow shear buckling forces, an input of the DSM design equation, to be computed directly on the basis of geometrical dimensions of perforated members. Finite-element models of the tests are also developed and validated to study the variation of the shear strengths with respect to the hole sizes where considerable shear strengths of members with substantially large web holes extending up to the full depths of the webs are observed. Further, the experimental shear strengths are used to calibrate the DSM-based proposal. It is confirmed that the resistance factors for shear design being used in the current North American specification and Australian/New Zealand standard are applicable.
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Acknowledgments
Funding provided by the Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant No. DP160104640 has been used to perform this project. The first author is supported by the University of Sydney International Scholarship.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 146 • Issue 1 • January 2020
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 23, 2018
Accepted: May 2, 2019
Published online: Oct 29, 2019
Published in print: Jan 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Mar 29, 2020
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