Nonlinear flexural response assessment of cold formed ferritic stainless steel closed built up beams

Abstract

Cold-formed stainless steel structural members have been widely newlineadopted in the construction of buildings and bridges worldwide owing to their newlineimproved structural performance in terms of high strength, corrosion newlineresistance and ductility. The use of cold-formed steel built-up sections has newlinebecome more popular as a viable alternative for efficiently resisting high newlinestructural loading experienced by mid-rise residential buildings and largespan newlineportal frames. Fasteners such as self-tapping screws, bolts, spot-welds newlineand clinches are generally used to connect the built-up sections. Design newlineengineers often prefer stainless steel members when the environmental newlineconditions surrounding the steel structures make them vulnerable to severe newlinecorrosion. Among the various grades of stainless steel available, ferritic newlinestainless steel contains less nickel content (minimum of 10.5%), leaving newlinechromium as the primary alloying element. Hence the initial material cost of newlinethe ferritic stainless steel is about three times lower when compared with the newlineaustenitic stainless steel and this boosts its application in the construction newlineindustry. Cold-formed steel lipped channel sections are utilized commonly in newlinethe field, primarily because of their simple forming procedures and easy newlineerection features. newlineThe main objective of the current research is to investigate the newlinebehaviour and the flexural capacity of Cold-Formed Ferritic Stainless Steel newline(CFFSS) closed built-up beams composed of lipped channel sections, which newlineare arranged in the toe-to-toe orientation to form a box type section for newlineimproved flexural resistance newline