Articles

Benjamin W. Schafer DOI: 10.1002/stco.201110019

Cold-formed steel structures around the world

A review of recent advances in applications, analysis and design

The objective of this paper is to provide a brief review of recent (over approximately the last 2.1 Framing
five years) advances in the application, analysis and design of cold-formed steel structures.
Attention here is focused on load-bearing cold-formed steel structures; as opposed to sec- For many engineers, their first reac-
ondary systems, curtain walls, etc. Cold-formed steel applications continue to advance in tion to CFS framing is that it can only
three primary categories: framing, metal buildings, and racks. Examples largely derived be a low-rise solution. Views of low-
from the authors experiences in North America are used to illustrate the applications. The rise structures framed from CFS are
behaviour of cold-formed steel structures can be complicated due to the thin-walled nature superficially similar to timber construc-
of the sections; thus, analysis advances are required. Recent work in Generalized Beam tion, and thus the general presump-
Theory and the constrained Finite Strip Method demonstrate that, at least when it comes to tion is that CFS framing will only be
thin-walled members, significant advances in structural analysis are still possible and desir- competitive in countries with timber
able. Design of cold-formed steel structures continues to see significant improvements and framing traditions, and then only for
refinements. Recent efforts related to the Direct Strength Method of design are highlighted,
one, or maybe two, story structures.
including novel extensions from the member to the system level. Finally, similar to many
Thus, the increasingly common use of
other areas of structural engineering, seismic engineering has motivated notable advances
mid-rise CFS framing in the United
in applications, analysis, and design. For cold-formed steel structures these advances are
States, even in seismically active ar-
reviewed to demonstrate current progress and future directions in this important area.
eas, can be a surprise for some. Fig. 1
provides an example of a six story
mid-rise CFS structure constructed in
1 Introduction topics and discussions have two strong the United States [8]. Many mid-rise
biases that must be recognized from CFS structures utilize ledger framing
Today, cold-formed steel (CFS) struc- the outset: (1) many of the applications
tures enjoy widespread use in many are focused on North America, where
countries and design specifications, the author resides and has the great-
e.g., [1] and [2] are well established, est interaction with the practice, and
even if they are ever changing! Exten- (2) the selected topics largely reflect
sive reviews of the CFS literature are areas where the author has been in-
available [3], [4] and more targeted re- volved in one form or another (through
search reviews also exist: [5], [6] and direct research, committee work in the
Chapter 13 of [7]. However, even in development of codes and specifica-
the last five years significant progress tions, or international collaborations).
has been made, particularly in analy- Given these biases, it is without a
sis and design. Further, the state of doubt that, novel applications and im-
the art in cold-formed steel applica- portant research will be missed, for
tions, both structures and members, these shortcomings the fault is that of
has not been detailed. the author alone, and apologies are
This brief review paper provides extended.
an overview of recent advances in
CFS structural applications, members, 2 Structures
analysis, member design, system de-
sign, and seismic design. The selected The three primary areas of load-bear-
ing CFS applications are: framing,
Selected and reviewed by the Scientific metal buildings, and racks. Each of
Commitee of the 6th European Confe- these areas is briefly reviewed here
rence on Steel and Composite Structu- with an emphasis on recent advances
res, 31 August to 2 September 2011, in applications, and in targeted re- Fig. 1. Mid-rise CFS framing, adapted
Budapest, Hungary search on these applications. from [8]

Ernst & Sohn Verlag fr Architektur und technische Wissenschaften GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin Steel Construction 4 (2011), No. 3 141
B. W. Schafer Cold-formed steel structures around the world A review of recent advances in applications, analysis and design
Fig. 2. CFS typical ledger framing detail
as opposed to platform framing. In
ledger framing the building is con-
structed story-by-story, but the floors
are hung from the studs using rim
track, see Fig. 2.
Mid-rise CFS construction re-
quires technical expertise on the part
of the engineer/designer, and the de-
velopment and support of applicable
code provisions. An entire family of
CFS standards specifically for fram-
ing have been developed in North
America (e.g., [9]) and form the basis
for the adoption of these systems in
building codes. In addition, many com-
panies working in this market are pan-
elizers, and thus perform significant
construction offsite. In North America,
the pre-engineered truss industry pro-
vides a model for this form of con-
struction; and indeed pre-engineered
metal trusses are used extensively in
North America today.
2.2 Metal Buildings
In metal buildings CFS members typ-
ically only provide the secondary sys-
tem: purlins, girts, sheeting, etc. Re-
search work on these secondary sys-
tems remains active (particularly with
purlins), but is not the focus here. The
distinction between CFS framing and
load-bearing CFS metal buildings is
not perfect, but CFS metal buildings
typically attempt to create clear span
space in the interior, while CFS fram-
ing may not. Further CFS metal build-
ings use steel sheet for sheathing as
opposed to plywood, gypsum board,
etc. In addition, CFS metal buildings
142 Steel Construction 4 (2011), No. 3
are typically designed as an entire sys-
tem. In some cases panelized CFS
framing construction is extended to
metal buildings (e.g. Nunconsteel in
the United States provides such a sys-
tem). However, even in the last five
years, interesting efforts exist: in Aus-
tralia with frames relying only on stiff-
ened sheeting [10], in Hungary [11] and
Poland [12] with frames using utiliz-
ing novel built-up sections and con-
nections, and in the UK with a long
term research effort employing cas-
sette walls for the structure [13].
2.3 Racks
CFS storage racks are remarkably ef-
ficient structures that have long used
novel cross-sections and connections
in their design. Although the members
and connections have not changed
significantly in the last five years un-
derstanding of behaviour and trans-
lating that understanding into im-
proved designs has been very active.
Significant new testing has been con-
ducted on uprights [14], [15] upright
to shelf beam connections [16], [17]
and base plates [18]. Testing protocols
have advanced and become formal-
ized [19], as well as analysis protocols
particularly in the use of second-or-
der analysis [20], [21]. Contemporary
concerns such as impact forces [22],
[23] and progressive collapse [24] have
also seen recent study. Standards or-
ganizations supporting the CFS rack
industry are active, and in many in-
stances quite progressive due to the
complicated nature of rack structural
performance. For example, the forth-
coming Australian rack standard
(AS 4084) will provide complete cod-
ified guidance on performing geomet-
ric and material nonlinear analysis
on the imperfect structure (GMNIA),
similar in spirit to Eurocode for shell
structures.
3 Members
CFS members in common use in
North America include the C (with
and without lips), the Z (typically with
sloping lips), and a variety of gener-
ally hat-shaped deck sections. Spe-
cialty cross-sections are also used in
the CFS rack industry for both up-
rights and beams. All of these con-
ventional sections have been in regu-
lar use for numerous years. In the past
five years cross-section innovation has
begun to take greater advantage of
manufacturing technology, and begun
to seriously push the boundaries of
available design methods.
North America has long ne-
glected cross-section innovation, pre-
ferring a more commodity-based ap-
proach, but this is changing as evi-
denced by Fig. 3. For example
sections are now available in North
America (Fig. 3a), though the long-
span deck sections in use in many
parts of Europe are still yet to be uti-
lized here. The most significant cross-
section innovations occurring in North
America are associated with propri-
etary, pre-engineered, solutions. In
particular, several truss companies in
North America use novel sections with
narrow webs, wide flanges, intermedi-
ate stiffeners, and return lips as chords
in their trusses (Fig. 3b and c).
The CFS framing industry has
also introduced a variety of novel
variations on typical C sections for
use as studs, headers, jambs, distribu-
tion members, and even bracing. One
of the most popular versions of these
advanced sections uses stiffened holes
in the webs of joists to provide room
for services, the evolution of this idea
is the creation of a hybrid between
the bar joist and the CFS floor joist as
exemplified by products such as that
of Fig. 3d. For non load-bearing ap-
plications sections cold-formed from
knurled steel have been developed
(Fig. 3e) with the primary advantages
coming from improved fire/thermal
and acoustic performance,
Any discussion of new CFS mem-
bers would be remiss if it did not in-
clude the highly researched: LiteSteel
Beam (Fig. 3f). By using closed tubu-
lar sections for the flanges of a chan-
nel this section is able to provide ca-
pacities more typically associated with
hot-rolled, than cold-formed steel [25],
[26]. However, as the researchers have
shown high torsional rigidity concen-
trated in the flanges, while overall ex-
tremely beneficial, does lead to unique
behaviour and interactions most-no-
tably lateral-distortional [27]. The Aus-
tralian CFS Specification provides the
most up to date treatment of this
unique CFS building product.
A number of even more unique
CFS cross-sections, that stretch the
boundaries of what it means to roll-
form a section, and combine multiple
 B. W. Schafer Cold-formed steel structures around the world A review of recent advances in applications, analysis and design

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)

Fig. 3. Example of recently developed CFS members in use in North America; (a) TSNSigmaStud, (b) TrusSteel Dyna
Truss Chord, (c) Nuconsteel NUTRUSS Chord, (d) SteelForm DeltaStud, (e) ClarkDietrich UltraSteel Stud, (f) LST Lite
Steel Beam

manufacturing technologies, exist in alternatives from conventional civil general boundary conditions for sta-
various stages of product development. engineering analysis. Most notably, the bility analysis [32], the constrained Fi-
The desire to achieve even lighter, finite strip method (particularly on the nite Strip Method (cFSM) which en-
greener structures, and minimize ma- member level) has been demonstrated ables modal decomposition and iden-
terial cost and impact will aid in bring- to provide a useful compromise be- tification [33] to [36], and the develop-
ing many of these ideas to market. The tween the power of shell finite ele- ment of finite strip-based modal iden-
challenge remains for researchers, de- ments and the needed efficiency of tification tools for general purpose
sign methods, and design specifica- frame finite elements. In fact, the sig- shell finite element analysis [37]. Ef-
tions/codes to keep up with these in- nature curve generated by a stability forts are underway to enrich frame fi-
novations and be vehicles for progress member analysis using the classical nite elements with cross-section finite
instead of impediments to new tech- finite strip method [30] provides the strip analysis; however, more elegant
nology in CFS applications. organizing principles that much of approaches with Generalized Beam
the design advances of the last thirty Theory (GBT) exist.
4 Analysis years have been based upon. Recent GBT, which is predicated on an
advances in the finite strip method in- enriched Vlasov beam theory, is ide-
Analysis of CFS members presents a clude the continuing development of ally suited for the needs of frame ele-
unique challenge in civil engineering. open source tools [31], extensions to ment-based civil engineering system
At one end of the spectrum GMNIA
analysis with shell finite elements
provides a compelling multi-purpose
simulation tool, even if sensitivity
and knowledge of the required inputs
can be a challenge [28], [29]. While at
the other end of the spectrum typical
CFS practice either uses no formal
computational structural analysis, or
when analysis is employed it is linear
elastic with frame elements. Frame el-
ements in typical use do not properly
include torsional-flexural coupling in
unsymmetric members (such as the
CFS C-section), and are completely
incapable of including cross-section
deformations associated with local or
distortional buckling. However, cur-
rently frame elements are the only so-
lution that is computationally efficient
enough to be used on large-scale civil
systems for linear and nonlinear analy-
sis, and under the multitude of neces-
sary load cases.
Given this situation CFS analy- Fig. 4. Comparison of member stability analysis by GBT and cFSM, adapted from
sis has always been a vibrant area for [38]

Steel Construction 4 (2011), No. 3 143

B. W. Schafer Cold-formed steel structures around the world A review of recent advances in applications, analysis and design
analysis. In theory, if only classical
modes are contained in the model
then traditional framework finite ele-
ment results will be obtained. How-
ever, as cross-section deformation
modes are included: local-plate, dis-
tortional, shear, transverse extension,
then the frame element takes on the
mechanics of a typical shell finite ele-
ment but with the advantage that
the deformation fields are separated
and known a priori in the analysis. The
cFSM approach was derived based
on the mechanical assumptions un-
derlying GBT and as [38] and Fig. 4
show, they provide similar solutions.
Recent GBT research demonstrates
that geometric and material nonlin-
ear analysis on the member level [39]
and GBT-based frame elements for
system analysis even including local
loads and load height effects are pos-
sible [40], [41]. Further GBT, and its
ability to identify and isolate the par-
ticipation of a given deformation
mode, has been shown to provide
new insights on difficult problems in
CFS behaviour [42]. Tools even exist
for engineers to experiment with GBT
analysis on their own [43]. Nearly all
of the work for a fully nonlinear GBT
frame element appropriate for CFS
structures is in place, and the poten-
tial impact of this advancement on
the analysis of CFS systems cannot
be overstated.
With either shell finite element
analysis or advanced models based on
cFSM or GBT, GMNIA based proce-
dures for CFS are possible. However,
before they can enjoy widespread use,
GBT
Pcr = 48.46 kN
GBT frame element
DOF: order 100
ANSYS
Pcr = 48.03 kN
Shell elements
DOF: order 10,000
Fig. 5. GBT frame stability and com-
parison with shell elements, adapted
from [44]
144 Steel Construction 4 (2011), No. 3
it must be recognized that CFS mem-
bers have significant sensitivity to geo-
metric imperfections, residual stresses
and strains, and modelling parame-
ters [28]. Thus, characterization of the
inputs to GMNIA analysis remains an
important area of research for CFS
members and structures. Progress has
been made in statistical characteriza-
tions of manufacturing imperfections
[45], and in residual stresses and strains
from the roll-forming process [46], [47],
but significant work remains.
5 Design: member
Member design for CFS is compli-
cated by the existence of local, distor-
tional, and global buckling modes. In
addition, the fundamental modes
may interact with one another as well
as with material yielding. Of course
member-system interaction through
secondary bracing, or through the
primary framing (e.g., second-order
effects) also must be considered. The
primary design philosophy used in
codes and standards for CFS member
design is the Effective Width Method,
e.g., in [1], [2]; however the Direct
Strength Method (DSM) as provided
in Appendix 1 of [1] and fully re-
viewed in [48] has been developed as
an alternative approach.
DSM has been formally adopted
in many countries for CFS design, e.g.:
Australia, the United States, Canada,
Mexico, and Brazil. Under Eurocode
the Direct Strength Method is best
understood as falling in the family of
general methods (e.g., see [49] for
more on general methods). DSM
combines linear eigenvalue analysis
(i.e., elastic buckling analysis) with
material nonlinear analysis to provide
a prediction of the strength. From the
users standpoint DSM is more for-
malized/simplified than the Eurocode
general methods in that the strength
curves to connect linear eigenvalue
analysis with material nonlinear analy-
sis in local, distortional, and global
buckling have already been estab-
lished. Regardless, the philosophy and
implementation are in essence the
same. Significant new work in the de-
velopment of DSM has been com-
pleted in the last five years.
CFS members commonly include
holes, but until recently DSM pro-
vided no guidance on this situation.
Recent work provides tools for under-
standing and modelling the impact of
holes on cross-section buckling modes
from plates [50] to members [51], see
Fig. 6a. Using a combination of new
testing [52] and nonlinear finite ele-
ment collapse analysis correct imple-
mentation of the DSM strength curves
was also established; this included
the use of net section yielding proper-
ties and modifications in the inelastic
buckling regime for distortional buck-
ling failures [53], [54], to handle tran-
sitions like Fig. 6b. This work is cur-
rently under ballot for North Ameri-
can CFS design in [1].
Additional progress has been
made on a general/DSM method for
shear, and shear and bending interac-
tion. Current design provisions essen-
tially only include shear buckling of
the webs, and further presume the
webs are flat. The newly proposed
methods treat shear buckling as a
cross-section buckling mode, similar
to compression and bending. The im-
pact of the flange on the solution is
explicitly considered, as is the impact
of other cross-section details such as
rolled-in longitudinal stiffeners [55] to
[59]. Research continues to determine
the proper analogs to local, distor-
tional, and global buckling for shear;
meanwhile proposals are under bal-
lot in North America to integrate the
improvements already established [60],
[61].
In North America fire analysis of
CFS is typically completed experimen-
tally on a given (wall or ceiling) as-
semblage. However, recent work has
shown that available DSM expres-
sions can properly predict the reduced
strength of members, and even the
switching between controlling buck-
ling modes that occurs due to the
temperature dependence of elastic
buckling and yielding properties [62]
to [65]. Integration of these degraded
strengths with a true fire analysis is
not yet completed, but is certainly on
the horizon.
As implemented DSM covers
beams and columns explicitly, but re-
lies on interaction equations for beam-
columns. Such an approach is not in
the spirit of the general methods or of
DSM. Instead the cross-section sta-
bility: local, distortional, and global
should be assessed under the actual
applied loads (at least axial plus bend-
ing). Section yielding may also be de-
termined under the actual applied
 B. W. Schafer Cold-formed steel structures around the world A review of recent advances in applications, analysis and design

(a) (b)

Fig. 6. Modeling and design method development for members with holes, adapted from [54], (a) stability analysis with and
without holes, (b) transition from distortional buckling to net section failure as hole size increases

loads. Preliminary work [66] demon-
strates that extension of DSM in this
manner is possible and desirable in
many cases provides significant im-
provements over current design.
One shortcoming of DSM, as im-
plemented, is that the buckling mode
interactions that are considered are
not cross-section dependent. So, for
example a lipped channel with inter-
mediate stiffeners in the flange and
web has been experimentally shown
to have meaningful distortional-global
interactions [67], [68], but DSM only
includes local-global interaction and
assumes distortional buckling modes
do not interact with other modes. This
assumption was validated for lipped
channels [7], but intense interest ex-
ists in explaining and determining the
best way to handle these interactions
in the future [42], [69] to [72]. One ap-
proach may be to evolve DSM fur-
ther, recently the author explored the
use of the strain energy distribution
of the cross-section buckling modes
as a means to determine an effective
thickness in the cross-section [73]. In
addition, work towards true nonlin-
ear analysis (GMNIA analysis in Euro-
code parlance) may be the best final
direction for CFS member design. In-
deed, recent efforts lead by Rasmus-
sens research [17], [18], [22], [23] and
codified in the Australian CFS rack
standards (AS 4084) provide a pio-
neering example of such an approach
in CFS member design.
6 Design: walls and systems
Many innovations in CFS involve sys-
tems, as opposed to isolated mem-
bers. Thus, design methods need to
evolve towards incorporating system
analysis. This trend is most prevalent
in seismic design, see Section 7, but is
also important in basic CFS systems
such as walls and roofs. For example,
a multi-year effort to develop axial ca-
pacity design provisions for CFS studs
braced only by external sheathing was
recently completed [74] to [76]. As
Fig. 7 indicates, even for a wall with
nominally identical studs, the sheath-
ing plays a crucial role in the strength,
stiffness, ductility, and observed limit
state. The research in [77] provided

(c)

(a) (b) (d)

Fig. 7. Performance of CFS sheathed walls in compression, adapted from [75], (a) P- response of full scale walls in compression,
(b) OSB-Bare Failure (flex-tors), (c) OSB-Gyp failure (local), (d) OSB-OSB failure (local)

Steel Construction 4 (2011), No. 3 145

B. W. Schafer Cold-formed steel structures around the world A review of recent advances in applications, analysis and design
the key step for integrating the system
behaviour into the DSM method of
design, namely, if the stud-to-sheath-
ing fastener stiffness and sheathing
diaphragm stiffness are tested or cal-
culated these may be integrated into
the cross-section stability analysis (as
spring restraints) and thus provide
member local, distortional, and global
buckling loads that reflect the system-
level bracing behaviour. This was com-
pleted and the conventional DSM ex-
pressions used for strength prediction
are shown to agree well with tests
[74] when the elastic buckling loads
were suitably updated to include the
system-level bracing.
As another example of the evolu-
tion of system-level design the DSM
methodology was also extended to
the design of continuous roof purlins,
where the entire multi-span beam and
all its possible limit states are treated
together for the stability analysis and
for the strength prediction, instead of
reducing down to the cross-section as
in traditional design [78]. System-level
analysis methods like these hold par-
ticular promise for predicting efficien-
cies in repetitively framed structures
such as those commonly used in CFS
framing.
7 Design: seismic
Seismic engineering and design is an
area of high research activity through-
out structural engineering, and CFS
is no different. In North America
CFS seismic design is not codified in
one standard, forcing engineers to
work across multiple standards to
achieve their designs. Nonlinear time
history analysis, which forms the
computational engine for modern
seismic design philosophies such as
performance-based design, must be
grossly simplified for CFS structures
due to limitations in modelling (as
discussed in Section 4). System-level
seismic design of CFS is still in its in-
fancy, currently the governing philos-
ophy is to drive all energy dissipation
into pre-identified discrete elements,
such as prescriptively designed shear-
walls.
The primary lateral force resist-
ing system in CFS framing is the
shearwall, and testing on this system
continues worldwide, with recent (in
the last five years) contributions from
Italy on wood sheathed walls [79],
146 Steel Construction 4 (2011), No. 3
from Canada on strap-braced walls
[80], from Canada and the United
States on steel sheet shearwalls [81],
[82], from China on corrugated steel
sheet shearwalls [83], and from the
United States on wood sheathed walls
with pins [84] and adhesives [85]. Re-
search on the translation of CFS
shearwall test data into seismic de-
sign also continues worldwide [86] to
[89]. In North America, all CFS shear-
wall design criteria have recently been
brought together into a single design
specification [9].
In the broader seismic engineer-
ing community significant research
effort has been expended in develop-
ing systems that concentrate inelastic
energy dissipation into replaceable
fuse elements. This concept has
been recently extended to CFS shear-
walls by Japanese researchers with a
remarkably innovative system that in-
tegrates a ductile fuse into the hold-
down [90]. As demonstrated experi-
mentally, the resulting shearwall sys-
tem has stable loops in cyclic testing,
with little if any degradation. Analyti-
cal modelling indicates an energy dis-
sipating performance that is far and
above what is available today in CFS
shearwalls.
As an alternative to shearwalls a
novel seismic system using hot-rolled
steel tube columns bolted to CFS
beams was successfully developed and
approved for use in seismic design in
the United States [91], [92]. The sys-
tems original use was for mezzanine
structures in industrial buildings, but
in the United States the system has
spawned commercial framing prod-
ucts for the residential market (e.g.,
BlueSky FrameTM).
Current CFS seismic research
projects that the author is aware of as
being underway, but not yet repre-
sented fully in the literature, include
cyclic tests on CFS members, shake
table tests on multi-story shear walls,
diaphragms, and even full-scale build-
ings. The authors recent work in CFS
seismic design is summarized in [93];
clearly, much work remains.
8 Conclusions
This paper provides a review of the
state-of-the-art in cold-formed steel
structural applications, members,
analysis, and design. Cold-formed steel
enjoys widespread use in a number of
important structural domains and
continues to expand into new areas,
such as mid-rise construction. Cold-
formed steel members have definitive-
ly evolved to include numerous opti-
mized shapes beyond the conventional
cross-sections. Analysis advances in
the Finite Strip Method and General-
ized Beam Theory provide unique ca-
pabilities for modal decomposition
and identification of thin-walled mem-
bers, but important work still remains
to provide efficient tools that can be
readily integrated with conventional
structural analysis. Member design
has advanced significantly due to the
flexibility afforded by the direct inte-
gration of computational cross-section
stability in the Direct Strength Me-
thod. New tools for system design are
aiming to duplicate that success for
cold-formed steel systems. Finally, a
rich array of work is underway in cold-
formed steel seismic design. Taken in
total recent advances in cold-formed
steel structures indicate that signifi-
cant potential continues to exist for
this versatile thin-walled building ma-
terial.
Acknowledgments
This paper came about through dis-
cussions with Laszlo Dunai, and I
would like to thank him for the op-
portunity to provide this review. I
would also like to thank the members
and staff of the American Iron and
Steel Institute Committee on Specifi-
cations and Committee on Framing
Standards, many of the big picture
viewpoints shared in this review were
developed though my participation in
those committees. I would also like to
thank Dinar Camotim who provided
me with the insight and parallels be-
tween the Direct Strength Method
and Eurocode general methods;
however any misinterpretations of
Eurocode still remain my own. I
would also like to thank the numer-
ous collaborators and students who
informed the research that is so
briefly summarized here. Finally, I
would again like to apologize for
those in the cold-formed steel re-
search community who are not de-
tailed herein; due to the topics I have
chosen, a lack of space, and most im-
portantly my own ignorance, I am
sure I have missed important contri-
butions, for this I am truly sorry.
 B. W. Schafer Cold-formed steel structures around the world A review of recent advances in applications, analysis and design
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http://www.ce.jhu.edu/cfsnees/. 2011.
Keywords: cold-formed steel; constrained
Finite Strip Method; Direct Strength
Method; review
Author:
Prof. Benjamin W. Schafer
Johns Hopkins University,
Dept. of Civil Engineering, USA
schafer@jhu.edu
Steel Construction 4 (2011), No. 3 149