Experimental testing of cold-formed built-up members in pure compression

Cold-formed built-up members are compression members that are common in multiple areas of steel construction, which include cold-formed steel joints and stud walls. These members are vulnerable to unique buckling behaviors; however, limited experimental research has been done in this area. Give this gap, experimental testing of 71 built-up members was conducted in this study. The variations of the test specimens include multiple lengths, intermediate welds, orientations, and thicknesses. The experimental testing was devised to observe the different buckling modes of the built-up C-channels and the effects of the geometrical properties; to check for applicability of multiple intermediate welding patterns; and to evaluate both the 2001 and 2007 editions of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) Specification for built-up members in pure compression. The AISI-2001 and AISI-2007 were found to give inconsistent results that at times were un-conservative or overly conservative in terms of axial strength. It was also found that orientation of the member has an important impact on the maximum failure load on the member.