IV International Seminar on The Use of Steel Structures in Civil Construction

I International Conference on Steel Construction – I CICOM

“AN OVERVIEW OF THE COLD-FORMED STEEL

RESEARCH AND DESIGN IN THE UNITED STATES”(1)

Wei-Wen Yu(2)

Abstract
The use of cold-formed steel members in building construction began in about the 1850’s. In
the United States, such thin-walled steel members have been widely used for buildings and
other applications following the publication of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI)
Specification for the Design of Light Gage Steel Structural Members in 1946. Currently, both
allowable stress design (ASD) method and load resistance factor design (LRFD) method are
used in the United States for the design of cold-formed steel members, connections, and
structural assemblies. This paper presents an overview of the research work conducted in
various universities during the past 60 years and the development of the AISI design
specifications. Some related publications and activities are also briefly discussed.

Key words: Cold-formed steel, research, design.

(1)
– Technical Contribution to be submitted to the VI International Seminar on the Use of
Steel Structures in Civil Construction/ I International Conference on Steel Construction –
November 2001 – Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
(2)
– Curators’ Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering and Founding Director of Wei-Wen
Yu Center for Cold-Formed Steel Structures, University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, Missouri,
USA.
 IV International Seminar on The Use of Steel Structures in Civil Construction
I International Conference on Steel Construction – I CICOM

1- INTRODUCTION

In the United States and many other countries, cold-formed steel members (Figure 1) are
widely used in building construction, storage racks, highway products, transmission towers,
and many other applications. These sections are cold-formed from steel sheet strip, plate, or
flat bars in cold-rolling machines, or by press brake or bending brake operations. The
thickness of these members usually range from 0.4 mm (0.015 in.) to about 6.4 mm (1/4 in.)
even though steel plates and bars as thick as 25 mm (1 in.) can be cold-formed into structural
shapes (Yu 2000).
Compared with other materials, cold-formed steel members can offer the following
advantages: (1) lightness, (2) high strength and stiffness, (3) ease of prefabrication and mass
production, (4) fast and easy erection and handling, and (5) economy in transportation, just to
name a few.

Figure 1 Various shapes of cold-formed sections

From the structural design point of view, cold-formed steel members can be classified into
two major types: (1) individual framing members (Figure 2) and (2) panels and decks (Figure
3). Because the major function of the individual framing members is to carry loads, structural
strength and stiffness are main design considerations. This type of cold-formed steel sections
can be used as primary framing members in buildings up to six stories in height. In tall
multistory buildings, the main frames are typically of hot–rolled shapes and the secondary
elements such as wall studs, joists, decks, and panels may be of cold-formed steel sections.
Steel decks not only provide structural strength to carry loads, but also can provide a surface
on which flooring, roofing or concrete fill can be applied. They can also provide a space for
electrical conduits, and ducts for heating and air conditioning. For composite slabs, steel
decks are used not only as form work during construction, but also as reinforcement of the
 IV International Seminar on The Use of Steel Structures in Civil Construction
I International Conference on Steel Construction – I CICOM
composite system after the concrete hardens. In addition, they can also act as shear
diaphragms in their own planes.

Figure 2 Cold-formed sections used in structural framing

Figure 3 Decks, panels and corrugated

In recent years, cold-formed steel members have been widely used for pre-engineering metal
buildings. The use of cold-formed steel framing in residential construction has been on a
rapidly increasing scale. In the United States, about 75,000 homes were built in 1996. The
goal of the North American Steel Framing Alliance is to achieve sustained annual residential
construction market shipments of light gage steel framing products equal to 25% of the total
residential market, in tons, by 2007.
The purpose of this paper is to review the research work conducted in various US universities
and the development of the AISI design specifications. The related publications and future
design trends are also briefly discussed.

2- RESEARCH WORK

In the 1930’s, the acceptance of cold-formed steel construction in the United States faced
difficulties due to the lack of an applicable design specification. The development of a new
design specification was urgently needed not only because the structural stability problems of
thin-walled, cold-formed steel members under loads differs from that of heavy, hot-rolled
shapes, but also the cross-sectional shapes, connections, and manufacturing practices which
 IV International Seminar on The Use of Steel Structures in Civil Construction
I International Conference on Steel Construction – I CICOM
have been developed in cold-formed steel construction differ in many ways from those of
heavy steel structures. Therefore, the design specification for hot-rolled steel construction
cannot possibly cover the design features of cold-formed steel construction completely.
Realizing the need of a special design specification and the absence of factual background and
research information, the American Iron and Steel Institute sponsored a research project at
Cornell University since 1939. For the purpose of studying the structural performance of light
gage, cold-formed steel members and of obtaining factual information for the formulation of
design specifications, the research programs on cold-formed steel have been supported by
AISI, Metal Building Manufacturers Association, Metal Construction Association, Rack
Manufacturers Institute, Steel Deck Institute, and Steel Stud Manufacturers Association, at
Cornell University and other Universities, including Arizona State University, Carnegie-
Mellon University, University of Florida, Illinois Institute of Technology, Iowa State
University, The Johns Hopkins University, Lehigh University, Oregon State University, Santa
Clara University, University of Illinois, University of Kentucky, University of Minnesota,
University of Missouri-Rolla, University of New Mexico, University of Oklahoma,
University of Pittsburgh, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, University of Wyoming,
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Washington University and West Virginia
University. Many other US universities have also conducted research projects on cold-formed
steel under different sponsorships (Yu 1985). Recently, the research findings of the University
of Waterloo in Canada and the University of Sydney in Australia have also contributed to the
improvement of the design specification.
The investigations on structural behavior of cold-formed steel members, connections, and
structural systems conducted at Cornell University and other universities dealt with the
following major subjects:

a. Material Properties
- strength increase from cold work of forming
- ductility measurements and requirements
- influence of fatigue loads

b. Plate Elements
- effective width for compression elements
- reduced working stress for compression elements
- shear lag effects for short, wide flanges
- perforated elements
- webs and stiffened elements with stress gradient
- compression elements with edge stiffeners
- compression elements with intermediate stiffeners

c. Flexural Members
- section strength of beams
- inelastic reserve capacity
- lateral- torsional buckling strengh
- distortional buckling of beams
- beams having one flange fastened to a standing seam roof system
- strength of standing seam roof panel systems
- shear strength of webs and combined bending and shear
- web crippling and combined bending and web crippling
- transverse and longitudinal stiffeners
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- bracing requirements for C- and Z- sections
- torsional analysis
- channels bending about minor axis
- laterally unbraced compression flanges

d. Compression Members
- flexural buckling of columns
- torsional-flexural buckling
- distortional buckling
- interaction of local and overall buckling
- beam-columns
- buckling of frames
- wall studs and wall stud assemblies

e. Structural Assemblies
- composite slabs
- shear diaphragms
- roof trusses
- folded plate roof
- hyperbolic paraboloid roof
- rack structures
- frames
- sandwich panels

f. Connections
- welded connections
- bolted connections
- screw connections

g. Design Methods
- load and resistance factor design
- unified design approach
- direct strength method
- cold-formed stainless steel structural members

3- DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

At the present time, two design methods are being used in the United States for the design of
cold-formed steel structural members, connections, and structural assemblies. One is the
allowable stress design (ASD) method and the other is the load and resistance factor design
(LRFD) method. Both methods are equally acceptable, even though they may or may not
produce the identical designs. The developments of these two design methods are discussed in
subsequent sections.

3.1- Allowable Stress Design (ASD) Specification

The first edition of the ASD Specification was published by the American Iron and Steel
Institute in 1946 (AISI 1946). It was based on the available analytical and experimental
results obtained from the research project conducted at Cornell University under the direction
of Professor George Winter (Winter 1959). For design purposes, the basic design stress was
 IV International Seminar on The Use of Steel Structures in Civil Construction
I International Conference on Steel Construction – I CICOM
based on a factor of safety of 1.85. The effective width approach was used for stiffened
compression elements and the reduced working stress approach was used for unstiffened
compression elements. A form factor “Q” was used for column design to account for the
reduction of column strength due to the effect of local buckling of compression elements. For
beam design, the allowable design stresses for lateral buckling and shear buckling of webs
were based on elastic buckling stresses with a maximum of yield point in tension and shear,
respectively.
Since the publication of the first edition of the AISI Specification in 1946, the Specification
has gained both national and international recognition. It was accepted as the design standard
for cold-formed steel structural members in various national codes, state codes and local
codes. Subsequently, the AISI Specification was revised by the Committee on Specifications
in 1956, 1960, 1962, 1968, 1980, and 1986 to reflect the technical developments and the
results of continuing research. The 1986 edition of the Specification adopted the unified
approach related to the utilization of postbuckling strength of structural elements (Pekoz
1986, AISI 1986). The format of the 1986 Specification was changed to allowable strength
(stress) design. Since 1960, the AISI Specification and design manual have been translated
into several foreign languages.

3.2- Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Specification

The first edition of the AISI Load and Resistance Factor Design Specification for Cold-
Formed Steel Structural Members was published in 1991 (AISI 1991). It was developed from
a research project sponsored by AISI at the University or Missouri-Rolla under the author’s
direction with the consultation of T.V. Galambos and initial contribution of M.K. Ravindra
(Hsaio, et al. 1990). In this LRFD Specification, separate load and resistance factors were
applied to specified loads and nominal resistance to ensure that the probability of reaching a
limit state is acceptably small. These factors reflect the uncertainties of analysis, design,
loading, material properties and fabrication. They were derived on the basis of the first order
probabilistic methodology as used for the development of the AISC LRFD Specification. This
approach provides the basis for a more rational and refined method for the design of steel
structures.
Based on the LRFD approach, an improved method has been developed for determining the
design strengths of unusual shapes of cold-formed steel members, connections, or assemblies
on the basis of the tests for special cases. By using the resistance factor obtained from the
LRFD method, consistent factors of safety can be selected for the allowable stress design
method.

3.3- Combined ASD/LRFD Specification

The AISI Allowable Stress Design (ASD) and Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD)
Specifications were combined into a single document in 1996 (AISI 1996a). It contains six
chapters as follows: (A) General Provisions, (B) Elements, (C) Members, (D) Structural
Assemblies, (E) Connections and Joints, and (F) Tests for Special Cases. In this combined
specification, same nominal strength equations are used for the ASD and LRFD methods. The
factor of safety for ASD and the resistance factor for LRFD are provided in each section. The
load factors and load combinations are based on the ASCE Standard, Minimum Design Loads
for Buildings and Other Structures. In 1999, AISI issued Supplement No. 1 to the 1996
Specification.

3.4- North American Specification

In 1995, the American Iron and Steel Institute initiated the development of a North American
Specification for the design of cold-formed steel structural members at about the same time as
 IV International Seminar on The Use of Steel Structures in Civil Construction
I International Conference on Steel Construction – I CICOM
the NAFTA treaty was ratified. It is expected that the first edition of this unified North
American Specification will be completed at the end of year 2001. This Specification will be
used in the United States, Canada, and Mexico for the design of cold-formed steel structural
members. It is based on the 1996 AISI Specification with the 1999 Supplement, 1994
Canadian Standard (CSA 1994), and subsequent developments. In this document, the ASD
and LRFD methods are used in the United States and Mexico, while the Limit States Design
(LSD) method is used in Canada.

4- RELATED PUBLICATIONS
4.1- Commentary on the AISI Specification
Several editions of the Commentary on the AISI Specification were published by the Institute
since 1958. The purposes of the Commentary are: (1) to provide a record of the reasoning
behind, and justification for, various provisions of the Specification, (2) to offer a brief
presentation of characteristics and performance of cold-formed steel structures, and (3) to
furnish the background materials for a study of cold-formed steel design methods. It has been
published with the Specification.

4.2- Cold-Formed Steel Design Manual

Since 1949, nine editions of the Cold-Formed Steel Design Manual have been published by
AISI. The 1996 edition of the Design Manual includes the following eight parts: I –
Dimensions and Properties, II – Beam Design, III – Column Design, IV – Connections, V –
Specification, VI – Commentary, VII – Supplementary Information, and VIII – Test
Procedures. Illustrative examples, tables and charts are provided as design aids (AISI 1996b).

4.3- Framing Standards for Residential Construction

Currently, the AISI Committee on Framing Standards are in the process of developing the
following standards for residential and light-commercial cold-formed steel framing: (1)
General Provisions Standard, (2) Base Standard, (3) High Wind Standard, (4) High Seismic
Standard, (5) Truss Design Standard, and (6) Header Design Standard. These standards will
eliminate regulatory barriers and increase the reliability and cost competitiveness of cold-
formed steel framing through improved design and installation.

4.4- Stainless Steel Design Specifications

Because the mechanical properties of stainless steels are significantly different from those of
carbon steel, AISI published the first edition of the Specification for the Design of Light Gage
Cold-Formed Stainless Steel Structural Members in 1968 (AISI 1968). This Specification was
prepared on the basis of the extensive research conducted by Johnson and Winter at Cornell
University. It was revised by AISI in 1974. In 1990, the AISI Stainless Steel Specification
was superseded by the ASCE Standard (ASCE 1991).

5- CENTER FOR COLD-FORMED STEEL STRUCTURES

The Center for Cold-Formed Steel Structures was established at the University of Missouri-
Rolla in 1990 under an initial grant received from the America Iron and Steel Institute. In year
2000, it was renamed as “Wei-Wen Yu Center for Cold-Formed Steel Structures”. The Center
provides an integrated approach for handling research, teaching, engineering education, short
courses, seminars, specialty conferences, technical services and professional activity. It also
 IV International Seminar on The Use of Steel Structures in Civil Construction
I International Conference on Steel Construction – I CICOM
brings together the technical resources of interested parties with a common goal of continued
improvements of cold-formed steel design and construction. The Center is financially
supported by eight sponsors. The Center’s website (www.umr.edu/~ccfss) includes an online
searchable database for technical publications, recent CCFSS Newsletters and Technical
Bulletins, specialty conference proceedings, computer programs for cold-formed steel design
and other information.

6- SUMMARY

During the past 60 years, numerous research projects have been conducted in the United
States to study the behavior and structural strength of cold-formed steel members,
connections, and assemblies. Based on the research findings and construction practices, the
American Iron and Steel Institute has published several editions of the Specification for the
Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members to reflect the results of continuing research
and the advances in design techniques.
This paper reviews the previous research work and discusses the development of the AISI
Specification to satisfy the needs of the design profession using new materials. Some related
publications and ongoing activities are also discussed.

7- REFERENCES

American Iron and Steel Institute. 1946. Specification for the Design of Light Gage Steel
Structural Members . New York, USA.
American Iron and Steel Institute. 1968. Specification for the Design of Light Gage Cold-
Formed Stainless Steel Structural Members. New York, USA.
American Iron and Steel Institute. 1986. Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel
Structural Members. Washington, D.C., USA.
American Iron and Steel Institute. 1991. Load and Resistance Factor Design Specification
for Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members. Washington, D.C., USA.
American Iron and Steel Institute. 1996a. Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed
Steel Structural Members. Washington, D.C., USA.
American Iron and Steel Institute. 1996b. Cold-Formed Steel Design Manual. Washington,
D.C., USA.
American Iron and Steel Institute. 1999. Supplement No. 1 to the 1996 Edition of the
Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members . Washington,
D.C., USA.
American Society of Civil Engineers. 1991. Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed
Stainless Steel Structural Members. ANSI/ASCE 8-90. Reston, VA, USA.
Canadian Standards Association. 1994. Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members. CAN3-
S136-M94. Rexdale, Canada.
Hsiao, L.E., Yu, W.W. & Galambos, T.V. 1990. AISI LRFD Method for Cold-Formed Steel
Structural Members. Journal of Structural Engineering. ASCE. Vol. 116. No. 2. Reston,
VA, USA.
Pekoz, T.B. 1986. Development of a Unified Approach to the Design of Cold-Formed Steel
Members. Proceedings of the Eighth International Specialty Conference on Cold-Formed
Steel Structures. University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, Missouri, USA.
Winter, G. 1959. Cold-Formed, Light Gage Steel Construction. Journal of the Structural
Division. ASCE. Vol. 85. No. ST9. New York, NY, USA
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Yu, W.W. 1985. Cold-Formed Steel Design. John Wiley & Sons. New York, NY, USA.
Yu, W.W., Wolford, D.S., & Johnson, A.L. 1996. Golden Anniversary of the AISI
Specification. Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Specialty Conference on Cold-
Formed Steel Structures. University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, Missouri, USA.
Yu, W.W. 2000. Cold-Formed Steel Design. Third Edition. John Wiley & Sons. New York,
NY, USA.