Development of a new cold-formed steel building system

Abstract

A new cold-formed steel building system was developed recently that has no conventional frames, purlins or girts. As it uses a new structural system, the load paths and the structural behaviour are unknown. Therefore a series of non-destructive and destructive full scale tests of a 5.4 m x 5.4 m x 2.3 m steel building was conducted under simulated wind uplift and racking loads. The test results showed that in its present state, this new building system needs modification for its intended purpose. The structural behaviour of the test building was also investigated using finite element analyses. Based on these full sale tests and finite element analyses, suitable structural improvements were proposed to the new building system. This paper presents the essential details of the full scale tests and finite element analyses of this innovative cold-formed steel building system and the important results of this research including the details of an improved building system.