COLD FORMED THIN GAUGE MEMBERS

COLD FORMED STEEL MEMBERS AND SHEETING

1.1 Introduction The cold-formed thin gauge sections gather together into one of the main families of steel profiles used in the construction field. They have various shapes- sheet, strip, plates or flat bars, fabricated in roll-forming machines or by press brake operations. The thickness of the steel sheets or strips excluding the coating, generally ranges from 0.5 mm to 4 mm for sheeting and from 1 mm to 8 mm for profiles, respectively, according to E. C.3. Also, steel plates and bars as 25 mm may be cold formed into structural shapes Cold-formed thin gauge sections are used for the various elements in the steel structures offering some important advantages for the constructions: a) in comparison with thicker hot rolled shapes, cold formed light members may be manufactured for relatively light loads and/or short spans; b) various and intricate sectional configurations may be produced economically by cold forming operations and consequently, favourable strength-to-weight ratios may be obtained; c) nestable sections may be produced, allowing for compact packaging and shipping; d) load carrying panels and decks are able to provide useful surfaces for floors, roofs and wall constructions, and in other cases they can also provide enclosed cells for electrical and other conduits; e) panels and decks not only withstand loads normal to their surfaces, but they can also act as shear diaphragms to resist force in their own plans if they are adequately interconnected to each other and to the supporting members. 1.2 Industrial production of cold formed thin gauge sections Two procedures are used to produce these elements: I) continuously processing: for more important series of sections, by continuous forming, in rolling mills. Thus, the coil is unrolled and the steel sheet passes through successive pairs of roles and after that the sections are cut at the desired length (fig.1.2 axinte). Depending on the possibilities of pressing and on its characteristics, stripped steel may be processed with thickness between 0.3 mm and 18 mm and width between 20 mm and 2000 mm. II) with a discontinuous process: for small series of sections, either a leaf press brake (folding) of the steel sheets or a coin press brake (press braking) are commonly used (fig.1.1. axinte) for pressing the steel strip in a mould. The thickness of the of the shapes obtained by press folding is relatively small, under 3 mm, and the length of the elements is between 1.5 m and 4.0 m. The shapes obtained by pressing in moulds have the thickness under 16 mm and 6 m length. Cold-formed structural members can be classified into two major types (see fig. 1.1 EC 3 Part 1.3: -individual structural framing members (fig. 1.1. a, b, c); -panels and decks (fig.1.1.d). Individual members are used in buildings as beams, columns, trusses, and in the workshop design as purlins, skylights, bracing, structural elements for walls transmission towers, etc. The panel decks and corrugated shells are used for facades- as external layer for curtain walls, diaphragms, roofs, floors and permanent shuttering. 1.3. The steel used for cold formed thin gauge members. Characteristics for design According to EC 3 Part 1.3. the design thickness of the steel is considered as the nominal core thickness (tolerances under 5%), t c,nom .

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Fig. 1. Continuous process of fabrication of the cold formed sections (with rolling mill or pressing)

Fig. 2. Discontinuous process of fabrication of the cold formed shapes- successive stages of bending: a- with the leaf press brake (folding); b- by pressing in mould.

COLD FORMED THIN GAUGE MEMBERS

Fig. 3. Examples of profiled sheeting and members (EC3-P 1.3): a- basic elements; b- structural elements suitable for axial loading; c- structural elements suitable for bending

For continuously hot-dip metal coated sheeting with nominal thickness 5mm supplied with half of the normal standard tolerances, the design thickness t may be taken as the nominal core thickness, tc,nom. In case of continuously hot-dip metal coated steel sheet and strip the core thickness is t c = t nom t z , where tz is the thickness of the zinc protection, usually 0.04 mm both sides of the sheet and 275 g/m2. Standard grades of steel shall have the properties that conform to the required suitability for cold forming, welding and galvanising. The ratio of the specific minimum ultimate tensile strength fu to the specific minimum yield strength satisfies: f u f y 1.2 , see fig.4. The nominal (characteristic) values of the yield strength fyb and tensile strength fu for the specified steels are presented in table 1. The basic material used for fabrication of the steel sections consists in flat sheet steel strips and the Romanian standards available are: STAS 908-90, STAS 1945-90, STAS 9236-80, STAS 9150-80, STAS 10896-80. Generally, all these grades of steel will have the elongation at tear, A (%)>20%. Also, supplementary measures will be adopted for the stripes of 0.28 mm thickness considering cold forming process and sensibility to brittle fracture. 1.4. Influence of cold hammering The manufacturing process plays a governing role in modifying the mechanical properties of the profiles. First of all, it leads to an alteration of the stress-strain curve of the steel. Cold
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COLD FORMED THIN GAUGE MEMBERS

hammering provides an increase of the yield strength and sometimes, of the ultimate strength that is important in the corners and still appreciable in the flanges, while press braking lets these characteristics unchanged in these zones.

Fig.4. The effects of cold hammering upon the mechanical characteristics of the steel
Tabel 1. Nominal values of yield strength of basic material fyb and tensile strength fu according to the relevant codes
Type of steel Hot rolled steel sheet of structural quality Hot rolled steel sheet of high yield stress of structural quality1) Standard fabrication EN 10025:1993; SR EN 10025+A1:1994 EN 10025:1993; SR EN 10025+A1:1994 EN 10113:1993; EN 10137:1993 ISO 4997 EN 10147 Grade S235JR;S235JO;S235J2 S275JR;S275JO;S275J2;S275N;S275NL;S275M , S275ML S355JR;S355JO;S355J;SR355K2; S420N; S420NL; S420M; S420ML; S460N; S460NL; S460M; S460ML CR 220 CR250 CR 320 S220G S250G S280G S320G S350G fyb [N/mm2] 235 275 355 420 460 220 250 320 220 250 280 320 350 fu [N/mm2] 360 370 470 500 530 300 330 400 300 330 360 390 420

Cold-reduced steel sheet of structural quality Continuous hot dip zinc coated carbon steel sheet of structural quality High yield strength steels for cold forming

EN 10149

Note: According to ENV 1993-1-1:1992/A1:1994 the following criteria should be accomplished in choosing the appropriate steel in the case of cold forming: 1) Material in both delivery conditions M and N may be cold formed; 2) During cold forming the higher tensile and resilience properties of S 460 or S 420 steel, compared to S 355 should be taken into account. 3) If after cold forming a stress relief treatment has to be carried out, the following conditions shall be both satisfied for delivery conditions M and N: a) temperature range: 5300C to 5800C; b) holding time: 2 minutes/mm of material thickness, but at least 30 minutes; The grades of steels used for cold formed shapes according to the Romanian standards still available are: OL 32, OL 34, OL 37, OL 42, OL 52- STAS 500/2-80; RCA37, RCB52- STAS 500/3-80; B1, B2-STAS 9724-90; A1, A2, A3- STAS 9485-80; OLC10 and OLC20- STAS 88088. The cold-formed shapes are made of steel strips obtained under the Romanian standard prescriptions: STAS 908-90; STAS 1945-90; STAS 9236-80; STAS 9150-80; STAS 10896-80. The ratio:

fu

fy

1.2 must be respected and also ultimate elongation A5>20%.

Maximum Width-to-Thickness Ratios The cold-formed shapes may be considered as several independent sheets (plane walls) interconnected with rounded corners; the internal radii depend on the thickness of the walls. The ratios width-to-thickness, b/t may not exceed certain values, representing the field of experience and verified by testing. If these values are still exceeded, the strength of these walls shall be tested.
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COLD FORMED THIN GAUGE MEMBERS Table 2. Maximum b/t ratios and modelling of the static behaviour

The thickness of the material considered during the process of design depends on the tolerance limits and on the type of the coating (see table 3).
Table 3.Design values of the thickness of the steel sheet
Conditions imposed by the manufactory process Tolerances under 5% Tolerances greater than 5% Tolerances under normal tolerances, thickness 1.5mm, continuous hot-dip coating pr EN 10143 Continuous hot-dip coating EN 10147 Design thickness, t [mm] tc, nom 1.05(t c, nom-t) tc, nom tc= tN - tz; tz= 0.04 mm, both sides, 275g/m2

Along with the verifications presented in the table above, the end stiffener must be provided with a sufficient stiffness to avoid primary buckling. For this purpose, the following limits of the ratios c/b and d/b should be taken into account: 0.2 c / b 0.6 and 0.1 d / b 0.3 . An increase of the ultimate strength is related to the strain ageing accompanied by a decrease in ductility and depends on the metallurgical properties of the material. A superior mechanical strength perpendicular to the cold-hammering direction is the characteristic of the corners determined by the folding process and as a result in certain situations the design values of the strength will be increased wilt almost 45%. According to NP 017/97 that replaces the standard 10108-1/80 an averaged value of
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strength will be determined either experimentally or by calculations, on the basis of the following relationship:
Cnt 2 f = f + (1) ya yb A
u

( f u f yb )

where: f yb , f - yield strength, respectively ultimate tensile strength, N/mm2; t - thickness of the steel plate; A - gross area of the cross section (mm2); C =7 for cold rolling and 5 for other methods of cold forming; n - number of folders at 900 having the internal radius r<5t on the whole perimeter of the cross section; for different angles from 900 the number n is determined with: (2) n = 2 i 90 where: n - relevant number of folders that increase the strength; 0 0 0 i -internal angle of the folder, between 90 and 135 ; for values under 90 , we will use: i = 900 and for values bigger then 1350 the folder will not be considered anymore. A superior limit value is imposed also for the average limit yield strength: (3) f ya 0.5( f yb + f u ) All the folders will be considered effectively both for tension and compression. In the case of the bending, only the folders close to the flanges of the section will be considered. For tubes and pipes with square and rectangular shape the yield strength in the area affected by cold hammering will be determined with the relationship: (4) f ya = f yb +
14t ( f u f yb ) b +h

Remarks: The increased value of the yield point will be considered only if the shape works with its entire cross section, that is =
Aef A = 1 , Aef being the effective area of the cross section;

Also, it will be considered only if the effect of cold forming is increasing substantially the capacity of the member; This increase is not available for the members that are welded in the same area as the cold hammering effects and for the cold formed elements subjected to thermal treatments over 5200C for more than one hour. The average yield strength will be adopted for the capacity of the members in axial tension, axial compression if the whole section is effective and for the members in bending with the flanges working entirely effective.

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Fig. 5. Determination of the folding number n: a- members axially loaded; b- members subjected to bending about major axis.

2. Specific Features of the Cross Sections of Cold Formed Thin Gauge Shapes Z, , C and I profiles are the usual shapes used in the design. Their heights are between 80 mm and 250 mm and the widths of flanges between 20 mm and 150 mm. Closed sections, as hollow circular, square or rectangular sections are used often for the design of the steel elements. In appendix A some shapes are presented with their catalogue characteristics. The walls of the cold-formed shapes are classified into two categories: stiffened walls that have their edges bound with another wall or with a folded end stiff enough as to prevent from its deformation in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the element: un-stiffened walls that have one edge fee to displace (rotate) in a plane normal to the plane of the element

Fig. 5. Stiffened walls of the cold formed shapes: a)- external wall with end stiffener; b) internal walls with intermediate stiffeners

A certain shape may be considered as a profile with intermediary stiffeners, like the one in figure 5.b., if the following relationship is available: (5)
bp 11 I min 3.66t 4 t 266000 18.4t 4 R
2

The end stiffeners, as the one presented in the figure 5.a. are considered active if: (6)
11 I min 1.83 t 4 (

bp t

)2

266000 9.2 t 4 R

Also, the end stiffener must respect the following condition for the minimum height, amin in order to become active: (7)
a min = 2.8t 6 ( ap t )2 266000 4.8t R

The end stiffeners of and C shapes must respect also the condition: amin from the total width (excluding the rounded corners) of the wall that is stiffened.
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a-

Fig. 1. Cold formed shapes with stiffened walls: a)- intermediate stiffeners; b)- with lip and clip (end stiffener)

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Fig. 6. Shapes with or without stiffeners, their geometric characteristics and mechanical behaviour, according to EC 3.

The calculation of the sectional properties 1. Gross cross section and net cross section The mechanical properties of the cross section are determined on the basis of the elements (flat portions) that form it. When calculating the gross section properties, holes for fasteners need not be deducted but allowance shall be made for large openings. The plates provided for battens or for splices shall not be included. The net area of an element or of the whole section shall be taken as its gross area less the deductions for all openings. The deduction of the holes should be done according to the following rules: The hole has the dimension of the nominal hole diameter, not the diameter of the fastener; The area that shall be deducted in the case of the countersunk holes should be the gross area of the hole, including the countersunk portion, in the plane of its axis; In the case of the holes that are not staggered, the area to be deducted from the gross sectional area should be the maximum sum of the sectional areas of the holes in any cross section, at right angles to the direction of stress in the member; In the case of staggered holes, the area to be deducted should be the greater of: (a) the deduction for non-staggered holes; (b) the sum of the sectional areas of all holes in any zigzag line extending progressively across the member or part of the member, less: s2t/4g, but not more than 0.6s for each gauge space in the chain of holes (see figure 2.1. EC3). Where: s- staggered pitch (also called spacing), that is the distance measured parallel to the direction of stress in the member centre-to-centre of holes in consecutive lines; t- the thickness of the holed material; g- the gauge, that is the distance measured at right angles to the direction of stress in the member centre-to-centre of holes in consecutive lines.
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COLD FORMED THIN GAUGE MEMBERS

(c) for angles with holes on both legs, the gauge should be measured along the centre of thickness of the material.

Fig. 7. Disposition of the staggered holes in the web a of a cold formed profile

Rounding of corners In the calculation of the geometrical properties the configuration of the cross section will be considered according to fig. 1.3. The plane widths bp shall be measured from the midpoint of the corner.

Fig. 8. Design conditions for the rounding corners of the cold formed shapes

In the case when a cross section is made up from plane elements with sharp corners with r5t and r/bp0.15, rounding of corners is ignored.
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COLD FORMED THIN GAUGE MEMBERS

All the sectional properties may be calculated based on an ideal section according to fig. 2.3 and the following approximations:
' Ag = Ag (1 )

(8) where:

' Ig = I g (1 2 ) ' Iu = I u (1 4 )

' ' ' Ag ,Ig , Iu are the reduced properties taken into account due to rounding corners;

= 0.43

r
i =1 m i =1

with the annotations: n- number of corners; m- number of flat widths; bI- length of the mid line of the flat widths.

Fig. 9. Example of an idealised cross section

Determination of the sectional characteristics of the cold-formed shapes The specific feature of these shapes lays in the fact that the compressive forces applied on the cross section lead to a certain diminishing of the net area that sustains the effort. An effective area, smaller than the net area is determined, depending both on the geometrical characteristics and on the nature and the value of the stresses. In the same time, certain shapes will loose their stability not by simply flexural buckling, but by torsional and flexural-torsional buckling. The calculation of the mechanical properties for these sections implies the determination of the torsional centre and the polar radius of gyration, also St. Venant constant and warping constant. The calculation of the sectional properties is based on the study of warping . In figure 10.a. a point M is identified in the proximity of the C shape. From this point that we will call the sectorial pole an origin vector-radius MA is traced and after that, another radius Mb, the points A and b being placed on the median line of the profile. The surface obtained from the intersection of the vectors with the median line, doubled, represents the sectorial surface or the sectorial co-ordinate of the point b: = bA rM .

Fig. 10. Sectorial surfaces and coordinates- basic notations

The sectorial surface has an algebraic sign, if the rotation of the vector is clockwise, then the sign is positive and if the rotation is counter clockwise, then the sign is negative. In figure 10.b the vector intersects the median line and in this situation the sectorial surface is

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the algebraic sum of two surfaces: = +1 2 =

h ( rM y ) . 2

We choose the torsional centre of the profile, named also sectorial principal pole. The points on the cross section where the normal sectorial stress is zero and also =0 are named points of zero. The point a determines the origin vector and for this reason is chosen to be the closest point to the torsional centre, named principal vectorial point of zero This last point which is the torsion centre is determined with the help of the principal sectorial point of zero as it follows: A shape is considered with its principal sectional axes of symmetry as in figure 3.9; for this shape a pole M is chosen as to determine easily the sectorial surfaces M .

Fig. 11. Geometric construction for the determination of the coordinates of the warping centre

If B is the torsion centre that determines the sectorial surfaces we may draw the axes y1Mz1 parallel to the central principal axes of symmetry. For the element ab the tangent (t) to the profile will be drawn and also from the two poles the perpendiculars r B and rM to the tangent. The length of the element ab being expressed as ds then the elementary sectorial surfaces will be expressed also: dM=rM ds and d=r ds. The polar radius will be expressed in the following form: rM = r + yB cos + z B sin (9) If we amplify the relationship with ds we will have: rds = rM ds yB ds cos z B ds sin (10) with the annotations: (11)
dz = ds cos dy = ds sin

It results that: d = dM + y B dz z B dy (12) And integrating, we obtain: = M + yB z + z B y + C (13) where C is the constant after integrating and y and z are according to fig. 3.9, the distances of the point a from the principal axes of inertia OX and OY. The sectorial linear moment area must be a null value: Sz = ydA = 0; Sy = xdA = 0 (14) A A So: 2 (15) A y dA = A M y dA y B A z y dA + y B A y dA + C A y dA = 0 and Also, considering the central principal axes of inertia, the following integrals must be zero: (16) A y z dA = 0; A y dA = 0; Az dA = 0 Then finally the co-ordinates of the torsion centre are: (17)
zB =

z dA =
A A

zdA + z B z 2 dA z B y z dA + C z dA = 0
A A A

y dA Iz

; yB =

z dA Iy
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where y, z, respectively Iy and Iz are determined with respect to the central principal axes of inertia of the cross section, and M will be determined with respect to a random pole M which may very well coincide with the gravity centre G of the section and also any point B in the plane. The integrals are calculated with Veresceaghin rule. The sections with one axis of symmetry have the torsion centre on this very axis, and the sections with two axes of symmetry have the torsion centre in the same point as the gravity centre. Considering the condition that the sectorial moment area of the whole section to be zero we may write: S = dA = 0 (18) A and from this the position of the principal sectorial point of zero is determined. The sectorial second moment of area I is determined with the relationship: I = 2 dA (19) A In the case of the particular situation in figure ., which represents the most common case of a corner in the cross section of the cold-formed shapes, the sectional characteristics will be determined with the help of the coefficients k in table above, depending on the ratio r/t.

Fig. 12. Geometric elements for determination of the sectorial characteristics of a rounding corner

The following geometrical characteristics will be considered: - the length of the element: lc=k1t; - the area of the curved element: Ac=k1t2; - sectorial linear moments area: Sy0=Sz0=k2t3; - co-ordinates of the gravity centre: y0G=z0G=k3t; - moments area: Iy0=Iz0=k4t4; Iy0z0=k6t4 For open sections, the stiffness for torsion is determined with an equivalent moment area for torsion (St. Venant constant): I t = l t 3 = L t 3 (20)
3 3

where: - coefficient determined experimentally for each profile: - angles: =1; - I and C sections: =1.12; - T sections: =1.21.3. l- width of the leg of the section; t- thickness of the leg; L- total length of the profile. Second moment area for torsion of closed (hollow) sections is determined with the relationship: (21)
It = 4 A2t U

where: A area determined by the median line (closed) of all the walls of the section: (22)
r A = bh 0.215 2 1 t 2 t
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D length of the median line: (23)

r U = 2 ( b + h ) 0.86 2 + 1 t t

The sectorial characteristics for the most important sections are presented in table 3.3 The following relationships are common for all the profiles: - distance from the gravity centre to the torsion centre: y c = e c + eG (24) - radii of gyration with respect to the principal axes: (25) iy = Iy A ; iz = Iz A

polar radius of gyration with respect to torsion centre:

ic = Iy + Iz A + y c2

(26) -

radius of gyration for torsion:

it = I A ic2

(27) the warping constant:

(28)

k = 0.62

It I

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