Experimental study of cold-formed steel section for wall panel

The use of Cold-formed Steel (CFS) has rapidly increased in recent times in building construction as CFS wall frame panels due to their simple forming procedure and easy to assemble Most common CFS sections used in wall panel are C-channel and Z-sections. The behaviour of CFS is different from other steel known as hot-rolled steel. The structural behaviour of CFS wall frame panels subjected to flexural loading are normally characterised by many buckling modes which have not yet been completely understood. Buckling modes under flexural loading are generally either eliminated or delayed to increase the ultimate bending capacity of the members. So, it is very important to understand the behaviour of CFS under bending loading. This research studies the behaviour of cold-formed steel under flexural loading and an extensive four-point bending test (FPBT) are considered. This research mainly investigates the fundamental behaviour of CFS wall frame panels under elastic limits to further understand and improve these members. The research involved experimental study using three FPBT specimens. Two specimens are wall frames and one back-to-back steel stud. All specimens are tested using universal testing machine applying 75% of the design load of the studs. Test results demonstrate that back-to-back CFS studs can be used to overcome the buckling problem for light load bearing wall panels due to their higher rigidity. Gypsum plasterboard included in CFS wall panel also have significant influence on the failure modes, which is understood by testing two wall panels. Tested results are validated by comparing with finite element analysis results