GBT-Based Assessment of the Buckling Behavior of Cold-Formed Steel Purlins Partially Restrained by Sheeting

This work presents and discusses the results of a GBT-based numerical investigation concerning the local, distortional and global buckling behavior of lipped channel and zed-section cold-formed steel purlins restrained by steel sheeting and subjected to an uplift loading. Strengthened (lapped) joints, commonly employed at internal supports to preclude the occurrence of local/distortional buckling phenomena, are also investigated and a strategy to determine “optimal strengthening lengths” is devised. The sheeting restraint is modeled by means of elastic translational and rotational springs, located at the purlin upper flange, and the joint strengthening is modeled by doubling the cross-section wall thickness. For validation, the GBT-based results are compared with ANSYS shell finite element model values.

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