ColdFormed Steel Frame with Bolted Moment Connections

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental investigation on cold formed steel frames. The beam and column members were formed by single lipped channel sections connected backtoback at the joints. A total of 10 frame tests were carried out under lateral load with different stiffness of bolted moment connection between cold formed steel sections. It was found that the stiffness and performance of the column base connections had significant effect on structural behavior of the frames. Furthermore, moment connections among cold formed steel members are structurally feasible and effective and engineers are encouraged to built light weight low to medium rise moment frames with cold formed steel sections.