Bending and Torsion of Cold-Formed Channel Beams

Abstract

This paper reports the results of 34 bending and torsion tests on unbraced simply supported cold-formed steel channel beams loaded eccentrically at midspan. These results and those of 10 concentrically loaded beams are compared with analytical predictions and with simple design approximations. The tests show that the beam strengths decrease as the load eccentricity increases and that the strength is higher when the load acts on the centroid side of the shear center than when it acts on the side away from the shear center. Good agreement is demonstrated between the test results and analytical predictions of the strengths. An extended series of analytical predictions is used to develop simple interaction equations that can be used in the design of eccentrically loaded cold-formed channel beams.