Flexural Strength of Cold-Formed Steel Unstiffened and Edge-Stiffened Hexagonal Perforated Channel Sections
Cold-formed steel (CFS) channel beams are increasingly used as primary structural elements in modern construction due to their lightweight and high-strength characteristics. To accommodate building services, these members often feature perforations—typically circular and unstiffened—produced by punc...
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MDPI AG
2025-07-01
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| author | G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi Dinesh Lakshmanan Chandramohan Dhananjoy Mandal Asraf Uzzaman |
| author_facet | G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi Dinesh Lakshmanan Chandramohan Dhananjoy Mandal Asraf Uzzaman |
| author_sort | G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Cold-formed steel (CFS) channel beams are increasingly used as primary structural elements in modern construction due to their lightweight and high-strength characteristics. To accommodate building services, these members often feature perforations—typically circular and unstiffened—produced by punching. Recent studies indicate that adding edge stiffeners, particularly around circular web openings, can improve flexural strength. Extending this idea, attention has shifted to hexagonal web perforations; however, limited research exists on the bending performance of hexagonal cold-formed steel channel beams (HCFSBs). This study presents a detailed nonlinear finite element (FE) analysis to evaluate and compare the flexural behaviour of HCFSBs with unstiffened (HUH) and edge-stiffened (HEH) hexagonal openings. The FE models were validated against experimental results and expanded to include a comprehensive parametric study with 810 simulations. Results show that HEH beams achieve, on average, a 10% increase in moment capacity compared to HUH beams. However, when evaluated using current Direct Strength Method (DSM) provisions, moment capacities were underestimated by up to 47%, particularly in cases governed by lateral–torsional or distortional buckling. A reliability analysis confirmed that the proposed design equations yield accurate and dependable strength predictions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-48165f2e7e1844b2a9f16cb7f463ab64 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2075-5309 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Buildings |
| spelling | doaj-art-48165f2e7e1844b2a9f16cb7f463ab642025-08-20T04:00:50ZengMDPI AGBuildings2075-53092025-07-011515267910.3390/buildings15152679Flexural Strength of Cold-Formed Steel Unstiffened and Edge-Stiffened Hexagonal Perforated Channel SectionsG. Beulah Gnana Ananthi0Dinesh Lakshmanan Chandramohan1Dhananjoy Mandal2Asraf Uzzaman3Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering Guindy Campus, Anna University, Chennai 600025, IndiaSchool of Engineering, Civil Engineering, The University of Waikato, Hamilton 3216, New ZealandDepartment of Civil Engineering, Sanaka Educational Trust’s Group of Institution, Durgapur 712212, IndiaLecturer in Mechanical Engineering, School of Computing, Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley Campus, High Street, Paisley PA1 2BE, UKCold-formed steel (CFS) channel beams are increasingly used as primary structural elements in modern construction due to their lightweight and high-strength characteristics. To accommodate building services, these members often feature perforations—typically circular and unstiffened—produced by punching. Recent studies indicate that adding edge stiffeners, particularly around circular web openings, can improve flexural strength. Extending this idea, attention has shifted to hexagonal web perforations; however, limited research exists on the bending performance of hexagonal cold-formed steel channel beams (HCFSBs). This study presents a detailed nonlinear finite element (FE) analysis to evaluate and compare the flexural behaviour of HCFSBs with unstiffened (HUH) and edge-stiffened (HEH) hexagonal openings. The FE models were validated against experimental results and expanded to include a comprehensive parametric study with 810 simulations. Results show that HEH beams achieve, on average, a 10% increase in moment capacity compared to HUH beams. However, when evaluated using current Direct Strength Method (DSM) provisions, moment capacities were underestimated by up to 47%, particularly in cases governed by lateral–torsional or distortional buckling. A reliability analysis confirmed that the proposed design equations yield accurate and dependable strength predictions.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/15/2679finite element analysiscold-formed steelhexagonal perforationsedge-stiffened perforationsflexural strengthdirect strength method |
| spellingShingle | G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi Dinesh Lakshmanan Chandramohan Dhananjoy Mandal Asraf Uzzaman Flexural Strength of Cold-Formed Steel Unstiffened and Edge-Stiffened Hexagonal Perforated Channel Sections Buildings finite element analysis cold-formed steel hexagonal perforations edge-stiffened perforations flexural strength direct strength method |
| title | Flexural Strength of Cold-Formed Steel Unstiffened and Edge-Stiffened Hexagonal Perforated Channel Sections |
| title_full | Flexural Strength of Cold-Formed Steel Unstiffened and Edge-Stiffened Hexagonal Perforated Channel Sections |
| title_fullStr | Flexural Strength of Cold-Formed Steel Unstiffened and Edge-Stiffened Hexagonal Perforated Channel Sections |
| title_full_unstemmed | Flexural Strength of Cold-Formed Steel Unstiffened and Edge-Stiffened Hexagonal Perforated Channel Sections |
| title_short | Flexural Strength of Cold-Formed Steel Unstiffened and Edge-Stiffened Hexagonal Perforated Channel Sections |
| title_sort | flexural strength of cold formed steel unstiffened and edge stiffened hexagonal perforated channel sections |
| topic | finite element analysis cold-formed steel hexagonal perforations edge-stiffened perforations flexural strength direct strength method |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/15/2679 |
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