Experimental and Numerical Study on Axial Compression Cold-Formed Steel Composite Wall under Concentrated Loads

Abstract

This paper presents the experimental and numerical studies in the investigation of the concentrated compressive behaviors of cold-formed steel-foam concrete composite wall. The failure modes, load–displacement curves, and load–strain curves of the specimens were obtained from the experiments. The infilled specimen failed due to distortional buckling of the end stud and cracking of the concrete near the corner of the wall. The strength of the high strength cold-formed steel was not being fully utilized. A finite element model was established by ABAQUS software and validated by the test results to investigate the effect of the concrete strength, steel strength, the spacing between stud openings, and the thickness of the concrete protective layer on the behaviors of the composite wall. The results indicate that the improvement of concrete strength has the most obvious effect on the bearing capacity of the composite wall, while the changes in steel strength, concrete cover thickness, and hole spacing have limited effects.

Investigating the Factors Influencing the Strength of Cold-Formed Steel (CFS) Sections

“…The effects of the openings were not readily apparent in specimens that were full of them. According to the findings [121], a CFS-foam concrete composite wall's bearing capacity is most affected by changes to the concrete's strength. Meanwhile, the steel's strength, the concrete cover's thickness, and the spacing of the holes all have less of an impact.…”