Nonlinear Response of CFS-Laced Built-Up Columns—A Numerical Parametric Study

The continuity in the lateral connectivity offered by laced built-up columns enables them to perform better, particularly when the axial demands are large and under lateral loading. The configuration of lacing adopted is one of the important parameters that affects the peak resistance of built-up columns. This paper reports a numerical parametric investigation conducted to study the lacing slenderness influence on the strength variation of short built-up cold-formed steel (CFS) columns. ABAQUS was used to develop the numerical model, where concentric axial loading was applied to the built-up columns constructed from four plain CFS angle sections, fastened by lacing bars configured in N-type latticed pattern, with pin-ended supports. The experimental results of laced CFS built-up columns conducted by the authors earlier and that of on battened CFS built-up column conducted by EI Aghoury et al. were adopted for calibrating the numerical model for performing the numerical parametric study. Lastly, the design axial strengths of the built-up columns were computed by adopting various current standards on steel structures, which were later compared with the numerical results.