Behaviour and strength of back-to-back built-up cold-formed steel unequal angle sections with intermediate stiffeners under axial compression

In cold-formed steel (CFS) structures, such as trusses, transmission towers and portal frames, the use of back-to back built-up CFS unequal angle sections are becoming increasingly popular. In such an arrangement, intermediate welds or screw fasteners are required at discrete points along the length, preventing the angle sections from buckling independently. Limited research is available in the literature on axial strength of back-to-back built-up CFS unequal angle sections. The issue is addressed herein. This paper presents an experimental investigation reported by the authors on back-to-back built-up CFS unequal angle sections with intermediate stiffeners under axial compression. The load-axial shortening behaviour along with the deformed shapes at failure are reported. A nonlinear finite element (FE) model was then developed, which includes material non-linearity, geometric imperfections and modelling of intermediate fasteners. The FE model was validated against the experimental test results, which showed good agreement, both in terms of failure loads and deformed shapes at failure. The validated finite element model was then used for the purpose of a parametric study comprising 96 models to investigate the effect of longer to shorter leg ratios, stiffener provided in the longer leg, thicknesses and lengths on axial strength of back-to back built-up CFS unequal angle sections. Four different thicknesses and seven different lengths (stub to slender columns) with three overall widths to the overall depth (B/D) ratios were investigated in the parametric study. Axial strengths obtained from the experimental tests and FE analyses were used to assess the performance of the current design guidelines as per the Direct Strength Method (DSM); obtained comparisons show that the current DSM is conservative by only 7% and 5% on average, while predicting the axial strengths of back-to-back built-up CFS unequal angle sections with and without the stiffener, respectively.