The use of cold-formed steel (CFS) profiles in industrial and non-industrial buildings has significantly increased over the last decades, mainly due to their high load-carrying capacity-to-self-weight ratio. In many applications, these profiles are combined with wood-based panels to form composite flooring systems, in which the interaction between the two components can significantly influence the global behavior of the CFS joists. A crucial aspect in this context is the evaluation of the effective properties of the composite cross-section, as the ultimate bending resistance and the flexural stiffness. These aspects are investigated in the present paper with reference to an experimental campaign carried out on nine full-scale CFS flooring specimens, characterized by different joist cross-section dimensions. In order to define the effective properties of the thin-walled profiles and to establish a reference baseline, additional tests were performed on joists without any sheathing. The experimental results highlight the ability of the sheathing to mitigate some typical buckling phenomena associated with Class 4 elements and demonstrate that the degree of connection, and thus the level of interaction between the components, plays a key role in the system response. Finally, theoretical formulations for the prediction of the effective bending resistance of the composite sections are proposed and validated against the experimental results.
Determination of the Effective Properties of Composite Perforated Cold-Formed Beams
C. Bernuzzi;A. Lucidi;M. Simoncelli
2026-01-01
Abstract
The use of cold-formed steel (CFS) profiles in industrial and non-industrial buildings has significantly increased over the last decades, mainly due to their high load-carrying capacity-to-self-weight ratio. In many applications, these profiles are combined with wood-based panels to form composite flooring systems, in which the interaction between the two components can significantly influence the global behavior of the CFS joists. A crucial aspect in this context is the evaluation of the effective properties of the composite cross-section, as the ultimate bending resistance and the flexural stiffness. These aspects are investigated in the present paper with reference to an experimental campaign carried out on nine full-scale CFS flooring specimens, characterized by different joist cross-section dimensions. In order to define the effective properties of the thin-walled profiles and to establish a reference baseline, additional tests were performed on joists without any sheathing. The experimental results highlight the ability of the sheathing to mitigate some typical buckling phenomena associated with Class 4 elements and demonstrate that the degree of connection, and thus the level of interaction between the components, plays a key role in the system response. Finally, theoretical formulations for the prediction of the effective bending resistance of the composite sections are proposed and validated against the experimental results.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
