Parametric Study of Cold Formed Steel Zee Sections

Abstract

Theuse of cold formed steel is increasing rapidly around the world due to many advances in construction and manufacturing technologies and relevant standards. However, the structural behavior of these thin walled steel structures is characterized by a range of buckling modes such as local, distortional and global buckling. In this context a parametric study on parameters (i.e. l/d, d/t) such as web depth, thickness, flange width and span are being made onto analyses Z Sections to arrive at design strength criterion in bending.
ABAQUS and CUFSM are extensively used to perform Finite Element and Finite strip analysis of thin walled cold formed steel sections. The critical load values obtained from CUFSM are substituted in the DSM equations to arrive at the flexural capacity of the section. In ABAQUS loads are applied on the top flange of section where center of gravity is projected on to the top flange. The simply supported and fixed end conditions are considered. The results of ABAQUS simulation compared with the CUFSM found that the ABAQUS results are in good agreement with CUFSM. The ratio of design strength to yield strength is compared to find whether the section is economical and analyses to arrive at an optimum section has been performed.