Combined bending and shear behaviour of slotted perforated steel channels: numerical studies

Cold-formed steel studs and purlins with staggered slotted perforations in webs are used in building structures to produce a better thermal performance of the profiles and for the energy efficiency of structures. On the other hand, the slotted webs result in an unfavourable effect in terms of the structural performance of the element, prominently their shear, bending and combined bending and shear strengths. Relatively little research has been reported on this subject despite its importance. Many research studies have been undertaken to examine the behaviour of conventional cold-formed steel (CFS) channel sections subject to combined bending and shear. To date, however, no research has been carried out to investigate how CFS channels with staggered slotted perforations behave under combined bending and shear actions. An extensive study on this area is therefore essential. Finite element (FE) models of CFS channels with staggered slotted perforations were developed to investigate their combined bending and shear capacity. A parametric study was conducted in detail by developing FE models based on the validation process with available experimental data. This paper presents the FE analysis details of CFS channels with staggered slotted perforations subject to combined bending and shear actions and the FE results. New design equations were also proposed to predict the combined bending and shear capacity of steel channels with staggered slotted perforations.