Structural perfomance of cold-formed wall frame under combined gravity and lateral loading

Light steel framing is generally based on the use of standard C or Z shaped steel sections produced by cold rolling from strip steel, which is normally refers to cold formed steel sections. Light steel framing is already well established in residential construction in North America, Australia and Japan. Cold formed steel sections are widely used in many sectors of construction, including mezzanine floors, industrial buildings, commercial buildings and hotels and are gaining greater acceptance in the residential sector. In Malaysia, cold formed steel sections are frequently use in roofing systems such as roof trusses and purlins. The light steel framing system has yet to be practiced in Malaysia. There is a need to investigate the economic aspects of the light steel framing system in our local industry, conduct comprehensive testing and parametric studies to create the guidance and procedures of the analysis and design of such building. This paper presents a lightweight system for wall panels made of cold-formed steel sections. Three wall panel samples are tested experimentally under combined gravity and lateral loading to investigate the performance of the panel in terms of strength, stiffness and ductility. The results from the experiments show the wall panel using back-to-back and box arrangement able to increase the lateral stiffness and strength as compared to single section wall panel. The increment of strength can goes up to 39% under combined gravity and lateral loading while for lateral stiffness the increment can goes up to 83%. The performance of the panel can be applied to the light steel structure that can materialize the new residential building mode of low cost, high efficiency and large scale. The significance of this study is to reduce the use of labour by introducing prefabricated panel section, which is environmentally friendly and reduce congestion on site, and able to reduce overall construction cost by using precast construction with higher strength and stiffness capacity. (paper)