Compression Resistance of Short Cold-Formed Lipped C Channel Section with Web Stiffening

This paper presents the compression resistance of the short cold-formed lipped C channel section after being strengthened with a web stiffener. The failure modes of short cold-formed lipped C channel section with web stiffening under axial compression load are also investigated in this research. Furthermore, the comparison has been made between the short column with and without stiffener in terms of ultimate load capacity and failure mode. The web stiffener which is a steel plate of 100 mm in width and 6.2 mm in thickness is connected to the web of the specimen using bolted and welded connection. For bolted connections, three different spacing between bolt is proposed to determine the effect of the spacing toward the compressive strength of the specimen. Two failure modes, local buckling and distortional buckling, are observed during the experiment. From the comparison, the compression resistance of column with web stiffener has increased significantly. The increment in strength is in the range from 0.25 to 1.00. For the column with web stiffening, compression resistance for the different connection methods is compared. The welding connection reached the highest ultimate load capacity. The theoretical prediction using BS EN 1993: 1-3 [8] shows good agreement with the experimental result.

Automated summary

This paper presents the compression resistance of short cold-formed lipped C channel section after reinforcement with a web stiffener, and investigates the failure modes of the reinforced section under axial compression load. The comparison between columns with and without stiffener is made in terms of ultimate load capacity and failure mode. The experimental results show that the compression resistance of the column with web stiffener has significantly increased.