Diaphragm Braced Members and Design of Wall Studs

Abstract

Cold-formed steel wall studs generally are I, Z, or channel shaped with or without stiffening lips and with webs perpendicular to the plane of the wall. Because of their configuration and dimensions, these sections are quite unstable by themselves. However, the stability and, thus, the load-carrying capacity of such studs are increased substantially once they are connected to the wall board material. In this paper the general behavior is formulated and a design procedure is presented. The analytical results are verified on the basis of an experimental investigation.