Journal of Constructional Steel Research 65 (2009) 219227

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Journal of Constructional Steel Research
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jcsr
Cold formed steel beams under monotonic and cyclic loading:
Experimental investigation
B. Calderoni
a,
, A. De Martino
b
, A. Formisano
a
, L. Fiorino
a
a
Department of Structural Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy
b
Department of Constructions and Mathematical Methods in Architecture, University of Naples Federico II, Via Monteoliveto, 80134 Naples, Italy
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 20 December 2006
Accepted 2 July 2008
Keywords:
Cyclic loading
Cold-formed profiles
Coupled channel beams
Experimental tests
Monotonic loading
Thin-walled profiles
a b s t r a c t
The use of cold-formed thin-walled steel profiles in seismic structures is nowadays strongly penalized
by code prescriptions, which impose for this kind of members a q-factor equal to 1, so that the design
for the action of a severe earthquake must be carried out practically in the elastic field. On the other
hand, some theoretical studies on the seismic performance of such structural systems gave encouraging
results. For these reasons, an experimental and theoretical research program on the behaviour of cold-
formed members loaded by cyclic loads has been started in the recent past by the authors. In the first
phase of the experimental program, tests in bending on coupled channel beams under monotonic and
cyclic load have been carried out. In this paper the research program is described, the obtained results
are presented and some preliminary consideration is made on the behaviour of these types of members.
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The use of steel structures, built up by light gauge steel
members, should be very important from the point of view of
both research and technology, particularly for a country like Italy,
which is producer of this kind of profiles and has a large number of
deteriorated buildings to be restored and protected against seismic
actions.
The practical use of steel moment resisting frame made of
cold-formed sections in seismic zones is slowly increasing and
the attention of scientific community is mainly focused on the
definition of reliable q-factors, considering that the seismic codes
do not allow at the moment a seismic design with a significant
reduction of elastic seismic actions.
It seems particularly interesting to deep the seismic capacity
of cold-formed steel structures, which is directly related to the
definition of failure criteria for members and connections. With
reference to this point, considering that steel structures are
allowed to undergo significant inelastic deformations under severe
earthquakes, seismic capacity is often governed by the maximum
allowable deformation (plastic rotation) rather than by strength
capacity of the connections themselves.
In the general field of energy dissipation and structural damage,
the application of light gauge steel members is strongly penalised
on the base of their lack in dissipation capacity, which does not
allow a favourable behaviour in case of seismic events.

Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 0817682440; fax: +39 0815934792.

E-mail addresses: calderon@unina.it (B. Calderoni), atdemart@unina.it
(A. De Martino), antoform@unina.it (A. Formisano), lfiorino@unina.it (L. Fiorino).
On the other side, studies on light steel gauge portal frames,
carried on in the past by Japanese [23] and Italian [3] researchers,
showed an acceptable performance under cyclic actions corre-
sponding to moderate earthquakes. While the elastic behaviour of
this type of structures or members has been deeply analysed, their
post elastic behaviour, the technology and the elastic and post elas-
tic behaviour of connections deserve more studies.
So, it is necessary to analyse the behaviour of member to define
clearly the parameters influencing the problem. Particularly, it
needs to take into account the cyclic nature of the action and the
degrading phenomena in terms of strength, stiffness and rotational
capacity.
Recent researches, based on simplified assumptions about the
cyclic degrading behaviour as resulting from experimental data
given by some authors, allowed the modelling of a simple portal
frame behaviour which, under the action of several earthquakes,
showed the possibility of using light gauge member frames in low
seismic areas with q-factor varying from 2 to 3, if they show a not
negligible ductility (

= 3) [4,5].
It is worth noticing that moment resisting frame with cold-
formed steel members have been not deeply studied in recent
years, except for the case of storage racking systems. Nevertheless,
this type of structures could be not comparable with frames
withstanding seismic actions and usually used in the buildings. On
the contrary, buildings made of cold-formed steel frames sheathed
with panels have been largely studied in Europe [21,8,1517,12,
13,19], North America [25,24,22,2,1], Japan [20] and Australia [18].
But also in this type of structures the structural response under
horizontal actions generally depends on the interaction between
0143-974X/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jcsr.2008.07.014
220 B. Calderoni et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 65 (2009) 219227
Fig. 1. Nominal geometry of specimens (front view and transversal sections).
profiles, sheathing panels and sheathing fasteners and then the
seismic capacity is not directly related to the plastic behaviour of
cold-formed steel profiles.
The experimental activity presented in this paper is aimed to
evaluate the performance of a double channel profile from the
point of view of deformation capacity and cyclic degradation. The
interest on such profiles is dictated from the fact that they could
be used, for example, as beams in moment resisting steel frames
having columns made of hot rolled compact sections.
2. The experimental programme and the equipment set-up
The experimental investigation has been performed on some
of identical beam specimens. A preliminary test was carried out
on a slightly different beam, in order to test the efficiency of
the experimental equipment and set-up. More in detail, two
monotonic tests, onthe beams namedT01 andT02, andthree cyclic
tests, on the beams named T03, T04, and T05, have been carried
out. In the preliminary test (beam named T00) a mixed (cyclic and
monotonic) load history was applied to the beam.
The generic specimen is made of 1740 mmlong double back-to-
back coupled cold formed unlipped channel profiles. In particular,
the two C-section beams are linked together by a 20 mm thick
vertical inner plate placed at mid-length. Two 15 mm thick end
plates are welded to the members at both edges of the beam
allowing for the connection to the external restraints. Moreover,
the profiles are stiffened by means of 4 mm thick vertical plates
parallel to the web and welded to the flanges at mid-length,
corresponding to the load application zone; further four horizontal
4 mm thick batten plates have been welded to the top and bottom
flanges too. The geometrical scheme of the specimen is given in
Fig. 1, in which the front view and some significant transversal
sections are shown.
Considering the single channel profile, the geometrical slender-
ness b/t (wide to thickness ratio) for flange and web are 10.5 and
61.7, respectively. Consequently, according to the Eurocode 3 [11],
the profile can be classified in class 4 for the flange and class 2 for
the web, so that the whole section should be classified as a slender
section (class 4).
With reference to the material, the average yield and ultimate
stresses of the used steel are f
y
= 364 MPa and f
u
= 425 MPa,
respectively. These values have been obtained from tensile test
specifically performed.
The beams used in the preliminary test has a different
transversal section, obtained by connecting back to back two
lipped channel profiles, having stiffeners (20 mmlong) at the edge
of the flanges, as depicted in Fig. 2. This arrangement has been
chosen for allowing some comparison with the results of tests
developed in the past by other researchers [10].
All tests were carried out on simply supported beam, loaded by
a single mid-span concentrated force (three-point bending test), as
Fig. 2. Specimen used in the first test.
(a) Test configuration for monotonic tests.
(b) Test configuration for cyclic tests.
Fig. 3. Global view of the specimens T01 and T05 ready for testing.
shown in Fig. 3. In particular the beam was restrained by a hinge
on the left side and a simple support on the other side. Lateral
bracing system was adopted in the cyclic test in order to avoid
flexuraltorsional buckling.
Deflections and deformations were measured during testing
by means of displacement transducers (LVDT) and strain gauges,
respectively. In particular, a pair of LVDTs (1 and 2) has been used
to measure the horizontal displacement of the simple support and
a further pair (3 and 4) to acquire the rotation of the edge hinge.
For the specimen T03, T04 and T05 a further LVTD (5) has been
used to measure the vertical displacement at mid length. The LVDT
locations are shown in Fig. 4(a) and (b).
Concerning the strain gauges, two different arrangements were
adopted. In particular, for the specimens T01, T02 and T03, one
strain gauge has been placed on both top and bottom flanges of
each profile in four significant sections. For the specimens T04 and
T05 only the bottom flange of a single profile has been monitored.
In these cases four strain gauges have been positioned on each
top and bottom sides in two significant sections. The strain gauge
locations are shown in Fig. 4(c) and (d).
B. Calderoni et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 65 (2009) 219227 221
(a) Arrangement type 1 (specimens T00, T01 and T02). (b) Arrangement type 2 (specimens T03, T04 and T05).
(c) Arrangement type 1 (specimens T00, T01, T02, T03). (d) Arrangement type 2 (specimens T04 and T05).
Fig. 4. LVDTs and strain gauges location.
The tests were carried out at the Department of Structural
Engineering of the University of Naples Federico II, using testing
equipment consisting of a reaction steel frame and a 500 kN
hydraulic jack. The loading jack was controlled by means of an
electronic device, which have been used for data acquisition too.
All tests were carried out in displacement control, using a low
displacement rate for the sake of obtaining a quasi-static loading
procedure [14].
In the preliminary test (T00) two complete cycles (loading and
unloading phases) were carried out, in which mid-span deflection
ranged from 0 mm to 10 mm and from 0 mm to 20 mm in the first
and in the second cycle, respectively. Then a monotonic loading
phase was performed up to deflection equal to 80 mm, followed by
an unloading phase, in which the beamwas pushed up to a reverse
displacement of 80 mm.
For tests T01 and T02 a monotonic test protocol has been
adopted, it being characterised by displacements applied with
rate of 0.5 mm/s. The increasing displacement step was 10 mm,
followed by a hold step of 20 s.
In the test T01 the displacement has been progressively
increased up to the complete collapse, reached at 120 mm, while
in test T02 the maximum displacement has been fixed at 20 mm,
in order to investigate also the response in the unloading phase
immediately after the attainment of local buckling.
Cyclic tests have been carried out using a procedure based on
indications given in [9]. A fixed constant displacement amplitude
has been adopted and the number of cycles has not been
initially defined: the test ended when the failure occurred. The
displacement amplitudes were 15 mm, 30 mm and 45 mm for test
T03, T04 and T05, respectively. In cyclic tests the displacement rate
has been fixed at 1.0 mm/s and each cycle has been followed by a
hold step of 20 s.
In the following paragraph each test is described in detail,
reporting the corresponding more significant results.
3. Test description and results
The performed tests have been reported by means of the
corresponding reaction force applied deflection (F) diagram,
Fig. 5. T00 specimen employed in the first test.
Fig. 6. F curve for test T00.
in which some points have been highlighted, so defining a series
of meaningful phases. For each phase a brief description of the
occurred phenomena is given, also by means of significant photos.
3.1. Preliminary test (beam T00)
In Fig. 5 the beam T00 before testing is shown and in Fig. 6 the
experimental F curve is depicted.
222 B. Calderoni et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 65 (2009) 219227
Fig. 7. Starting (a) and development (b) of local buckling in the bottom flange of the T00 beam.
(a) The deformed specimen. (b) Zoom.
Fig. 8. Test T00: Distorted configuration for downward deflection.
The first phase (0-A) corresponds to the first loading cycle, in
which the beam has been pulled up to 10 mm by means of a load
of 55 kNand subsequently pushed down to the initial position. The
behaviour was practically linear-elastic, but some slipping due to
testing equipment can be observed, particularly in the pulling up
branch, so that the reaction force for a null displacement was not
null (but equal to 30 kN).
In the second phase (AB) a new complete cycle has been
performed: The beam has been pulled up to 20 mm, reaching a
85 kNreaction force, and then moved down to a null displacement.
Again some little slipping occurred; moreover a non-linear
behaviour was exhibited by the specimen for an applied load of
about 75 kN, so denoting the attainment of first yielding in the
section before the occurrence of local instability. For these reasons
in the unloading phase a residual deflection (roughly 10 mm) was
showed for a null acting force.
The third phase (BCD) has been a monotonic pulling up
step, in which a maximum deflection of 80 mm was reached. For
a displacement equal to 25 mm local buckling occurred in the
bottom flange (Fig. 7), giving rise to a softening branch in the
diagram. The maximum corresponding reaction force was 90 kN
(point C), whichrepresents the ultimate loadbearable by the beam.
The local deformation (wave amplitude) was roughly 10 mm.
When continuing to pull up the beam, the reaction force decreased
to 40 kN for a deflection of 80 mm (point D).
During development of the softening branch, local buckling
interested a larger zone of the flange and the web too, with not
symmetric pattern of deformation with respect to the vertical
central axis of the beam. At the maximum displacement the beam
showed a very strong deformation in the bottom buckled zone.
Whenthe specimenhas beenunloaded, a very large residual plastic
deflection was exhibited for a null reaction force.
In the subsequent reversal loading phase (fourth phase D

E)
a significant reduction in stiffness was observed while the local
deformation was going to be recovered. Local buckling also
occurred in the top flange for a deflection of 10 mm.
Then a new softening branch (EF) in the reversal side of
the F diagram appeared and the test continued up to the
downward deflection of 80 mm, characterized by a very strong
deformation also in the top flange and in the web (Fig. 8). A
residual reactionforce of only 30kNwas measuredwhenthe global
flexuraltorsional buckling of the beam occurred, caused by the
very distorted configuration of the specimen.
When unloaded and removed fromthe loading frame, the beam
recovered only a little bit of the total deflection.
3.2. Monotonic test beam T01
The Beam T01 has been loaded monotonically, by applying
deflection upward. The corresponding structural response, in term
of reaction force (F) and applied deflection () at mid-span, is
drawn in Fig. 9.
Viewing to this diagram, it can be observed that the beam
exhibited a quite linear behaviour in the first phase (0-A) nearly up
to the attainment of the maximum withstood force. The little loss
of response linearity just before the maximumload was due to the
development of the first yielding inthe section, whichtheoretically
should correspond to a force of 75 kN, as indicated in the graph
by the horizontal solid line. In fact this force gives rise to the
theoretical first yielding bending moment (M
y
35 kN m) in the
section immediately close to the stiffened central zone (100 mm
far from the mid-span).
A little bit after (phase AB), the critical load due to local
buckling was reached, involving the bottom compressed flange
(Fig. 10).
B. Calderoni et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 65 (2009) 219227 223
Fig. 9. F curve for test T01.
Fig. 10. Test T01: The buckled bottom flange.
Increasing the applied deflection, local buckling progressively
increased and involved the web too, as shown in Fig. 11. The
half-wave length of local deformation was about 60 mm with
displacements toward the internal of the profile. The value of the
maximumload recorded during the test was F
max
= 77.6 kNwhen
displacement was equal to 16.2 mm.
Once this deflection has been exceeded, the specimen expe-
rienced an unstable decreasing behaviour (phase BC) up to the
collapse. The collapse displacement can be considered equal to
80 mm. In fact at this value of deflection the deformed flanges of
the profiles went in contact with the central stiffening plates of the
specimen, as shown in Fig. 12. For this reason, further increasing of
the deflection led to growing of reaction force and stiffening of the
beam(phase CD) up to 120 mm, when the loading phase has been
stopped, considering that the results obtainedinthis phase was not
sufficiently reliable.
The minimum registered reaction force is roughly 30 kN (point
C), which can be considered as the residual bearing capacity of
the specimen. Subsequently, the beam has been unloaded (phase
DD

), showing a very significant residual deflection, equal to

about 105 mm, for a null reaction force. When the beam was
additionally pushed down (phase D

E), a significant reduction in

both stiffness and resistance was noted and the local deformation
in the previous compressed flanges was going to be partially
recovered.
Further pushing the beam, local buckling occurred also in
the top flanges just a little after the beam reached the original
horizontal position ( = 0 mm) (Fig. 13).
The test ended at the occurrence of the global flexuraltorsional
instability for a downward deflection of 29 mm.
3.3. Monotonic test beam T02
As already said, beam T02 had the same initial configuration
than beam T01, but it has been pushed up to only 20 mm, in
Fig. 11. Test T01: Local buckling also in the web.
order toinvestigate also boththe behaviour inthe unloading phase,
just after the attainment of local buckling, and in the subsequent
reloading phase. The obtained F curve is reported in Fig. 14.
In the first loading phase (0-A), the behaviour of the beam was
very similar to the one exhibited by beam T01. The maximum load
recorded was F
max
= 72.4 kN at a displacement equal to 11.7 mm,
when local instability occurred, involving first the bottom flanges
and just after the web. The half-wave length of local deformation
was about 40 mm with displacements toward the external of the
profile (Fig. 15). In the subsequent decreasing phase (AB), the
reaction force fell to about 55 kN for 20 mm deflection.
The unloading phase (BC) was perfectly linear with slope
of the curve quite equal to the initial one. Once reached the
null value of the load (for a residual displacement of 14 mm),
the reloading phase (CD) started. The beam has been pushed
down until it experienced the global flexuraltorsional instability,
which in practice occurred when the specimen reached its original
position. No local buckling still appeared in the top flange and the
loss in stiffness during reloading was negligible.
3.4. Cyclic tests beams T03, T04, T05
The cyclic tests (T03, T04 and T05) exhibited a similar
behaviour, characterized by a progressive deterioration of strength
and stiffness, typical of steel members when affected by local
buckling. Flexuraltorsional global buckling in the pushing down
phases has been prevented by means of lateral bracing systems
(see Fig. 3(b)).
In all performed cyclic tests, local buckling started at bottom
flanges of both profiles on the side of beam toward the external
hinge. During the test, as the number of cycles (N) increased, cracks
always arose in the flanges, in the buckled zone at the flange-to-
web connection. These cracks gradually developed toward the free
edge of the flange. When the whole length of the flange has been
involved by the crack, the beam lost quite at all its load bearing
capacity and the test has been interrupted.
Note that the formation of cracks is due to the large local
deformation reached in the buckled zone connected to the cyclic
application of the loads, it being related to a problem of low-cycle
fatigue, which has been treated into an other paper [6].
With reference to beam T03, the obtained F curves for the
first cycle only and for the whole cyclic load history are shown in
Fig. 16. The displacement amplitude, kept constant during the test,
has been = 15 mm, while 47 loading cycles have been applied
to the specimen. The maximum force (F
max
), equal to 72.3 kN, was
recorded for a deflection of 13.1 mm in the first cycle, when local
buckling already developed in the top flange.
The strength and stiffness degradation were very significant in
the first two-three cycles. First crack arose at the 15th cycle and
involved the whole flanges at the last cycle (47th). The phases
corresponding to the crack beginning and to its full development
are shown in Fig. 17.
224 B. Calderoni et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 65 (2009) 219227
(a) Front view. (b) Zoom (back side).
Fig. 12. Test T01: Contact between the deformed flanges and the stiffened central zone.
Fig. 13. Test T01: The buckled top flange in the unloading phase.
Fig. 14. F curve for test T02.
InFig. 18the buckledzones of the beam, before crack arising, are
shown for both the front and the back side of the member. It can be
observed that the extension of the flanges involved in the buckling
phenomena was about 70 mm and 100 mm, respectively, for the
top and the bottomflanges. The measured wave amplitude of local
deformation was roughly 25 mm at the top flange and 15 mm at
the bottom one.
In Fig. 19 the F curves for the first cycle only and for the
whole cyclic load history are shown, with reference to beam T04.
In this test the displacement amplitude has been = 30 mm,
kept constant in each of the 21 cycles applied to the specimen.
The maximum measured reaction force was equal to 76.7 kN
at an applied deflection of 14.5 mm, corresponding also to the
occurrence of local buckling in the bottom flange.
When the beam has been unloaded and reloaded (pushed
down) in the reversal side, it experienced local buckling at the top
flange too, for a deflection practically null (not-deformed initial
Fig. 15. Local buckling for T02 specimen.
configuration) and a reaction force of about 60 kN (Fig. 20). The
extension of the buckled zones was about 110 mm, with a wave
amplitude of 30 mm, both for top and bottom flanges.
Also in this test the first two-three cycles resulted the most
important for beam degradation. In each cycle after the first,
the hysteretic dissipation decreased; but when the number of
performed cycles grew, the shape of each cycles tended to became
stable, with no more significant reduction of strength. The cracks
started at the 7th cycles and increased more and more during the
test, interesting also the web, until they reached the free edges of
flanges during the 21st cycle.
For beam T05 the F diagrams are shown in Fig. 21. The
displacement amplitude has been fixed to = 45 mm.
The maximum reaction force was equal to 72.9 kN, attained
when deflection was 13.5 mm, just before the occurrence of local
buckling inthe bottomflange (Fig. 22). Local buckling also occurred
in the top flange, when the beamwas loaded in the reversal side. At
the endof testing the flange lengthinterestedby local buckling was
150 mm, with a wave amplitude of about 55 mm. The strength and
stiffness deterioration was very important in the first two cycles.
The cracks started in the 4th cycle and fully developed in the 9th
cycle (Fig. 23).
4. Critical remarks
The analysis of test results allows some interesting considera-
tions.
First of all, the performed tests (monotonic and cyclic) have
shown a quite good uniformity in terms of global behaviour, load
bearing capacity anddisplacement corresponding to the maximum
load. In fact, the recorded maximum loads varied in the range
72.377.6 kN, while the displacements in the range 1216 mm,
making us confident inthe reliability andthe correctness of testing.
B. Calderoni et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 65 (2009) 219227 225
(a) First cycle. (b) Complete curve.
Fig. 16. F curve for test T03.
(a) Start of the crack. (b) Full development of the crack.
Fig. 17. Test T03: Typical propagation of the crack.
(a) Buckled zone of the beam (front view). (b) Buckled zone of the beam (back side).
Fig. 18. Local buckling in T03 beam.
(a) First cycle. (b) Complete curve.
Fig. 19. F curve for test T04.
226 B. Calderoni et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 65 (2009) 219227
Fig. 20. Deformed shape of T04 beam in the reloading phase.
All the tested beams experienced the local buckling phenom-
ena, which occurred for a value of the applied load practically co-
incident with the one producing the first yielding in the mid-span
section, so confirming that the adopted profiles are on the bound-
ary between the class 3 and class 4 of the Eurocode 3 classification.
This means that, even if the yielding stress has been reached in the
material, the beam is not able to exhibit a fully plastic behaviour
connected to the development of a plastic hinge: local buckling in
the compressed flange leads to decrease the load bearing capacity
when displacement increases up to the failure.
Nevertheless, the decreasing branch of the obtained F curve
(in the monotonic test) showed a not negligible ductility of the
tested beam (more than 4 in displacement). Likewise the rotation
capacity of the mid-span section, depicted in Fig. 24 as moment
vs. plastic rotation curve for the test T01, was meaningful. Plastic
rotation has been obtained from the measured rotation of the
supported edge section purified of the calculated elastic one [7].
From the figure it can be observed that the maximum plastic
rotation at the failure is more than 10% rad, analogously to a
compact section, even though the loss of bearing capacity is more
than 50%.
Note that the mid-span section of the tested beam corresponds
(due to the adopted scheme) to a fully restrained base section
of a cantilever beam and that the extension of the plastic (or,
better, the buckled) hinge is equal to about half of the section
height (see Figs. 13, 18 and 20), while for a compact profile this
extension is generally equal to the section height. This means that
the same plastic rotation corresponds in a light gauge beams to
a double value of the section curvature and then produces larger
local specific deformation, further increased by the local buckling
deformationphenomena, so giving reasonfor the progressive crack
in the flange steel observed during the tests (see Figs. 17 and 23).
As far as the energy dissipation capacity is concerned, the cyclic
tests have shownthat the energy dissipatedineachcycle decreases
as the number of cycles (N) increase and that the more significant
Fig. 22. Local buckling in the bottom flange in test T05.
Fig. 23. Test T05: Crack involving the whole flange.
Fig. 24. Plastic rotation of mid span section for test T01.
loss of dissipation capacity occurs in the initial two or three cycles,
depending on the amplitude of the performed cycles. In Fig. 25
the ratio between the energy dissipated during the generic cycle
(E
i
) and the energy dissipated during the first cycle (E
1
), drawn
in function of the number of cycles, is presented for the three
(a) First cycle. (b) Complete curve.
Fig. 21. F curve for T05 beam.
B. Calderoni et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 65 (2009) 219227 227
Fig. 25. Ratio E
i
/E
1
vs. Cycle number (N).
performed cyclic tests. It can be clearly observed that the increase
of the displacement amplitude applied during the test produces a
more significant reduction of structural dissipation as the number
of cycles grows.
Furthermore, the dissipated energy becomes practically con-
stant (equally to about 20% of that dissipated in the first cycle),
independently of the amplitude of the cycle, when the number of
cycles becomes high and the beam is close to the failure condition.
Anyway the shape of each cycle in the response F diagramcan
be considered satisfactory, due to the absence of negative phenom-
ena as, for instance, pinching.
5. Conclusions
The monotonic and cyclic tests carried out on channel beams
made with cold formed light gauge sections have confirmed the
influence of local buckling phenomena on the behaviour of this
kind of structures. In fact, a significant reduction in resistance has
been exhibited by the specimens after attainment of local buckling
in the compressed flange and progressive loss of both load bearing
capacity and flexural stiffness have been highlighted during cyclic
tests.
Nevertheless, the experimental results, which has to be
considered as basic data for future research developments, have
shown not negligible available ductility and energy dissipation
capacity, which could be considered in a not elastic seismic
design of light gauge steel frames, at now not allowed by the
current seismic codes.
Future developments of this research have already been
defined: cyclic tests with variable displacement amplitude will be
carried out and the effects of axial load on the monotonic and cyclic
behaviour will be also analysed.
In the meantime, a numerical model for cyclic behaviour of
such types of profiles is under definition. This model will take
into account also the progressive deterioration of the mechanical
response, by means of simple rules and on the basis of only few
experimental parameters, and could be used for better analyse also
the dynamic behaviour of frames made of cold-formed elements.
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