Calculation Guide of Cold-Formed Channel Girts by AISI S100 Using DSM Analytical Solution

Although girts and purlins are important parts of factories and other structures that consume significant amounts of steel materials, their calculations to comply with relevant structural design codes have not received much attention. Reference materials such as textbooks only provide parts of the problem as separate examples, mostly about determining available strength, so it is difficult for structural engineers to apply them in practice. Therefore, in this article, complete guidance for calculating cold-formed steel channel girts under AISI S100 is recommended in the form of calculation flows (one main and six dependent), which involve several design codes. The result of applying the guide to an example shows that the computational load is great for a secondary element like a girt. Thus, enhanced methods should be used to simplify the calculations, such as numerical solutions used to determine the critical buckling forces. Many other conclusions are also drawn from the example.