Section Moment Capacity Tests of Rivet-Fastened Rectangular Hollow Flange Channel Beams

The rivet-fastened rectangular hollow flange channel beam (RHFCB) is a new cold-formed hollow section proposed as an alternative to welded hollow flange steel beams. It is a mono-symmetric channel section made by rivet fastening two torsionally rigid rectangular hollow flanges to a web plate. This method will allow the designers to develop optimum sections, with affordable rivet connection between the web and flange elements. The new rivet-fastened RHFCB has unique characteristics that are not encountered in conventional hot-rolled and cold-formed steel channel sections. Therefore an experimental study consisting of 15 section moment capacity tests was conducted with different rivet spacings to investigate the flexural behaviour and strength of rivet-fastened RHFCB members. The ultimate moment capacities from the tests were compared with the capacities predicted by the current design rules for steel structures, and their suitability to predict the section moment capacities of RHFCBs was investigated. The applicability of the Direct Strength Method based design rules was also investigated. This paper presents the details of this experimental study and the results