Thin-Walled Structures 116 (2017) 180–193

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Thin-Walled Structures
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Full length article

Compression tests of built-up cold-formed steel hollow flange sections

⁎
MARK
Sivakumar Kesawan, Mahen Mahendran , Yomal Dias, Wen-Bin Zhao
Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Cold-formed steel hollow flange sections are structurally efficient compared to the conventional open channel
Cold-formed steel structures sections. They can be of different forms including hollow flange I- and channel sections, which are generally
Built-up sections fabricated by first cold-forming a single sheet to form the desired shape and then connecting their flange and
Screw fastened web elements by continuous welding. Instead of welding, intermittently screw/rivet fastened or spot welded
Rivet fastened
connection can also be used. A detailed investigation is currently under way on the structural performance
Hollow flange sections
characteristics of such intermittently screw/rivet fastened steel hollow flange sections. This paper presents the
Direct strength method
Effective width method details of an experimental study performed to investigate the behaviour of built-up cold-formed steel hollow
flange sections in compression, where more than 45 stub columns were tested. Both hollow flange I- and channel
sections built-up using either single steel sheet or three steel elements were tested. Tests also included built-up
hollow flange channel sections with stiffened web elements. Test results including the failure loads, load versus
axial deformation plots and failure characteristics are presented in this paper. Test failure loads are compared
with the predictions based on both effective width and direct strength methods to verify their adequacy in
predicting the section compression capacity of built-up hollow flange sections. This paper has shown that
although hollow flange I-sections made of three elements with a 100 mm fastener spacing can perform similar to
continuously welded sections, hollow flange channel sections undergo premature failures even with a 50 mm
fastener spacing, and the reasons are discussed.

1. Introduction However, it was discontinued due to its complicated manufacturing

The usage of cold-formed steel structures in the building construc-
tion industry is rapidly increasing due to their potential benefits
including high strength to weight ratio, rapid constructability and ease
of transportability. To date, open Z-, unlipped or lipped channel
sections are the most commonly used cold-formed steel sections. The
open and thin-walled nature of these sections makes them suffer from
local and distortional buckling effects, which ultimately reduce their
ultimate capacities and moreover result in complex capacity calcula-
tions. Recently many attempts have been made to eliminate the
occurrence of such buckling modes and improve the load carrying
capacities of cold-formed steel members. The hollow flange section is
one of the outcomes of such attempts.
In early 1990s, a hollow flange section with two triangular flanges
(Fig. 1(a)), known as Hollow Flange Beam (HFB), was first introduced
in Australia. This section has improved buckling capacities due to its
unique shape where its distortional buckling is eliminated by the
torsionally rigid hollow flanges while its local buckling capacity is
improved due to the absence of free edges and reduced web width. This
cold-formed steel section is considered to have the advantages of both
hot-rolled I-section and conventional cold-formed C- and Z-sections [1].
process involving simultaneous cold-forming and electric resistance
welding [2].
LitesSteel Beam (LSB) is the recently invented hollow flange channel
(HFC) steel section developed by OneSteel Australian Tube Mills (OATM)
using an improved cold-forming and dual electrical resistance welding
process (Fig. 1(b)). This section was extensively used in Australia since
2002, and is on average 40% lighter than the traditional hot-rolled
structural sections of equivalent bending strength. Kesawan and Mahen-
dran [3–5] and Jatheeshan and Mahendran [6,7] demonstrated the
improved fire performance of Light gauge Steel Frame (LSF) wall and
floor systems when these cold-formed and fully welded HFC sections/
LSBs were used as load-bearing studs and joists. However, LSB has also
been discontinued recently, due to the changes in OATM's business
operations and expensive welding process. Instead of the continuous
electric resistance welding used to connect the web and flange elements,
other techniques such as spot welding or rivet/screw fastening can be
adapted to form hollow flange sections. Fig. 2(a) and (b) show the new
rivet/screw fastened or spot welded rectangular hollow flange I-sections
(HFI) while Fig. 2(c) and (d) show the hollow flange channel (HFC)
sections. However, the structural behaviour of these built-up hollow
flange sections has not been investigated adequately.

⁎
Corresponding author.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2017.03.004
Received 26 August 2016; Received in revised form 22 December 2016; Accepted 5 March 2017
Available online 28 March 2017
0263-8231/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Kesawan et al. Thin-Walled Structures 116 (2017) 180–193

Outer flange From the introduction of cold-formed hollow flange sections in the
1990s, many research studies have been undertaken, but they were
Inner flange limited to their bending and shear studies [8–10]. Yi and Wilkinson
[11] and Kesawan and Mahendran [12] were the first to conduct an
extensive investigation on the compression capacity of cold-formed
Weld Web Weld
steel hollow flange sections. Their tests were also limited to welded
hollow flange channel sections (LSBs). Since reliable research data on
the structural performance of built-up hollow flange sections is not
available, detailed investigations are now being undertaken on their
structural behaviour at the Queensland University of Technology. As
part of these investigations, this study focuses on the section compres-
sion capacity of built-up hollow flange sections.
Fig. 1. Welded hollow flange sections, (a) Hollow Flange Beam (HFB), (b) LiteSteel Beam The built-up cold-formed HFI and HFC sections can be made using
(LSB).
either single steel sheet or three steel elements. The manufacturing
process of HFC sections using a single steel sheet is complex whereas
they can be easily made of three steel elements with their two hollow
flange elements connected to the web element through rivet/screw
fastening or spot welding. The significant advantage of the built-up
sections made of three steel elements is that the web and flange
elements can be of different steel grades and thicknesses (Fig. 2(b)
and (d)), for example, web element can be thicker than flange elements.
Furthermore, different steel grades can be used for web and flange
elements depending on the requirements. These enable the designers to
choose from a variety of options based on their requirements, thus
leading to an optimum design. However, it is critical to determine the
required rivet/screw spacing to minimise any loss in the section
capacity due to intermittent fastening. Although many studies
[13–19] have been undertaken in the past on the structural behaviour
of built up I- and box sections, no such attempts have been made on
built-up hollow flange sections.
To obtain reliable structural performance data and to develop
suitable design guidelines for built-up hollow flange sections in
compression, an experimental study was performed where more than
45 stub columns were tested. This paper presents the details of this
experimental study conducted to investigate the structural behaviour
and capacity of built-up hollow flange I- and channel section stub
columns subject to local buckling effects. The ultimate failure loads of
tested columns were compared with the predictions based on the
effective width and direct strength design methods in AS/NZS 4600
[20] in order to verify their applicability to built-up hollow flange
sections.
Past research studies [21–24] and AISI S100 [25] recommend
suitable connector spacing requirements for cover plated sections based
Fig. 2. Screw/Rivet fastened hollow flange sections, (a) HFI section made of single steel on three criteria, (1) the connector should be able to transmit the shear
plate, (b) HFI section made of three steel elements, (c) HFC section made of single steel forces between the connected parts, (2) connector spacing should be
plate, (d) HFC section made of three plate elements. higher than 1.16t E / fc to avoid column like buckling behaviour of the
*Note: Bf is the flange width, hf is the lip length, Hw is the web depth, tw is the web plates, and (3) connector spacing should be higher than a spacing of
thickness, tf is the flange thickness, Bl is the length of the outstanding element. three times the flat width of the narrowest unstiffened compression

Spot weld
spacing

10 mm

(a) (b)
Screws Spot-welds

Fig. 3. Screw fastened and spot welded 1PHFIs (a) Screw fastened, (b) Spot welded.
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Fig. 4. Screw Fastened HFIs (a) 1PHFI, (b) 3PHFI.

Table 1
Ultimate failure loads of spot welded 1PHFIs.

Specimen Experimental failure load PEX (kN) AS/NZS 4600 predictions (kN) Comparisons

PEWM PDSM PDSM-mod PEX/PEWM PEX/PDSM PEX/PDSM-mod

180701PHFI12s100 168 167 126 151 1.01 1.33 1.11

180701PHFI12s200a 169 162 123 148 1.04 1.37 1.14
180701PHFI12s200b 165 163 124 149 1.01 1.33 1.11
180701PHFI12s400 160 161 124 148 0.99 1.29 1.08
180701PHFI16s100 227 219 191 211 1.04 1.19 1.08
180701PHFI16s200 225 217 191 210 1.04 1.18 1.07
180701PHFI16s400 215 219 191 211 0.98 1.13 1.02
180701PHFI20s100 298 278 265 276 1.07 1.12 1.08
180701PHFI20s200 296 272 263 273 1.09 1.13 1.08
180701PHFI20s400 291 272 263 272 1.07 1.11 1.07

Table 2
Ultimate failure loads of screw fastened 1PHFIs.

Specimen Experimental failure load PEX (kN) AS/NZS 4600 predictions (kN) Comparisons

PEWM PDSM PDSM-mod PEX/PEWM PEX/PDSM PEX/PDSM-mod

180701PHFI12s100-1 170 161 124 149 1.06 1.37 1.14

180701PHFI12s100-2 169 162 124 149 1.04 1.36 1.13
180701PHFI12s200-1 167 161 123 148 1.04 1.36 1.13
180701PHFI12s200-2 157 163 124 149 0.96 1.27 1.05
180701PHFI12s400 155 162 123 148 0.96 1.26 1.05
180701PHFI16s100 235 220 192 212 1.07 1.22 1.11
180701PHFI16s200 223 219 192 212 1.02 1.16 1.05
180701PHFI16s400 217 219 191 211 0.99 1.14 1.03
180701PHFI20s100 298 276 264 274 1.08 1.13 1.09
180701PHFI20s200 295 276 265 276 1.07 1.11 1.07
180701PHFI20s400 297 270 261 271 1.10 1.14 1.10

Table 3
Ultimate failure loads of screw fastened 3PHFIs.

Specimen Experimental failure load PEX (kN) AS/NZS 4600 predictions (kN) Comparisons

PEWM PDSM PDSM-mod PEX/PEWM PEX/PDSM PEX/PDSM-mod

160703PHFI1212s100 177 164 136 157 1.08 1.30 1.13

160703PHFI1212s200 170 167 138 158 1.02 1.23 1.08
160703PHFI1212s400 162 166 137 158 0.98 1.18 1.03
160703PHFI1220s100 194 191 172 188 1.02 1.13 1.03
160703PHFI1220s400 166 192 172 189 0.86 0.97 0.88
180703PHFI1616s100 227 227 196 217 1.00 1.16 1.05
180703PHFI1616s200 213 223 194 215 0.96 1.10 0.99
180703PHFI1616s400 197 227 196 217 0.87 1.01 0.91
180703PHFI1620s100 239 241 232 245 0.99 1.03 0.98
180703PHFI1620s200 251 240 232 245 1.05 1.08 1.02
180703PHFI1620s400 189 240 232 245 0.79 0.81 0.77

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sections with larger connector spacing than given in AISI S100 [25].
Pin support Although the recommended spacing requirements in [21–25] are for
cover plated beam sections, the connector spacings used in the built-up
hollow flange sections are compared in this paper with the minimum
spacing specified in AISI S100 [25].

2. Experimental study of built-up hollow flange I-section stub

columns

Test 2.1. Hollow flange I-section specimens

specimen
Built-up hollow flange I-sections made using single steel sheet or
three steel elements (1PHFI and 3PHFI – Fig. 2(a) and (b)) were tested
in this study (32 tests). In these sections, the key parameters such as
Pin section dimensions, web to flange connection and its spacing were
support varied. The tested stub columns can be mainly categorised into two
groups,

1. Spot welded and screw fastened 1PHFI-sections

Fig. 5. Test set-up of HFI specimens.
Fig. 6. Column failures (a) Specimen without end plate (180701PHFI12s200a), (b)
Specimen with end plate (180701PHFI12s200b).
element. LaBoube et al. [24] showed that Yener's [21] recommenda-
tions for connector spacing are unsafe for some cover plated sections,
and concluded that AISI S100 [25] spacing requirement is adequate to
avoid column like buckling behaviour of plates. They proposed suitable
equations to determine the bending capacity of the cover plated
2. Screw fastened 3PHFI-sections
In these stub columns subject to local buckling effects, the specimen
length was chosen as approximately three times the width of the widest
plate element. The 1PHFI specimens were first brake pressed from zinc
coated Grade G250 structural steel sheet in the form of hollow flange
section and then its web and flange elements were connected. For
3PHFI specimens, both flanges were separately brake pressed and then
connected to the web element. The built-up 1PHFI and 3PHFI members
are given the following designation: 180701P(3P)HFI1620s100, where
180 – section depth, 70 – flange width, 1P(3P)HFI – rectangular hollow
flange I-section made of one steel sheet or three steel elements, 16 – flange
thickness of 1.6 mm, 20 – web thickness of 2.0 mm, s100 – fastener spacing
of 100 mm.
The spot welding connecting the web and flange elements was
performed using spot-welding guns, where the spot-weld diameter used
was 5 mm. In screw fastened 1PHFI and 3PHFI sections 6 mm long
5 mm diameter hexagonal head self-drilling screws were used. The first
connection – screw fastening or spot welding, was placed at a distance
of 10 mm from the specimen ends. Fig. 3(a) and (b) show the 1PHFI
specimens with screw fastened and spot welded connections, while
Fig. 4(a) and (b) show the typical screw fastened 1PHFI and 3PHFI
sections, respectively.
In 180701PHFI and 180703PHFI sections made of 2 mm thick
plates, the flange width, flange height and lip length used were 70,
30 and 15 mm, respectively, and hence these elements are unlikely to
undergo local buckling. However, the web element length was 120 mm,

400 mm 100 mm
200 mm

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 7. Failure modes of 180701PHFI12s with varying screw spacing, (a) 400 mm, (b) 200 mm, (c) 100 mm.

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Fig. 9. Comparison of load versus axial deformation curves of 3PHFI sections (a)
160703PHFI1212, (b) 160703PHFI.
Note: 1620s100 – flange and web thicknesses are 1.6 and 2.0 mm, respectively, and
intermittent fastener spacing is 100 mm.

Table 4
Effect of fastener types on the failure loads of 1PHFIs.

Specimen Pu-SP (kN) Pu-SC (kN) Pu-SP/P u-SC

180701PHFI12s100 168 170 0.99

180701PHFI12s200 167 162 1.03
180701PHFI12s400 160 155 1.03
180701PHFI16s100 237 235 1.01
180701PHFI16s200 225 223 1.01
180701PHFI16s400 215 210 1.02
180701PHFI20s100 298 298 1.00
180701PHFI20s200 296 295 1.00
180701PHFI20s400 291 297 0.98
Mean 1.01
COV 0.02

Note: Pu-SP, Pu-SC – ultimate failure load of spot welded and screw fastened 1PHFIs.

Fig. 8. Comparison of load versus axial deformation curves of 1PHFI sections, (a) Spot-
welded 180701PHFI12, (b) Spot-welded 180701PHFI20, (c) Screw fastened
180701PHFI12.
thus it could undergo local buckling deformations. For 180701PHFI and
180703PHFI sections made of 1.2 mm thick plates, both web and flange
local buckling were expected to occur. Details of the tested columns are
given in Tables 1–3.
The steels used in the test series have a nominal yield strength of
250 MPa. Tensile tests were conducted on steel coupons cut from these
sheets according to AS1391 [26]. Steels of 1.2, 1.6 and 2.0 mm
thicknesses had yield strengths of 310, 290 and 270 MPa, respectively,
while the elastic modulus of all steels was found to be about
200,000 MPa.
2.2. Test method and results
Fig. 5 shows the test set-up in the stub column tests. A semi-
spherical pin support with one load bearing plate was used at the top
end while a ball-bearing pin support was used at the bottom end. The
specimen was centrally placed in the loading set-up and then the load
was gradually applied at the top end. At failure, the column could not
sustain the applied load.
One test was conducted for a spot welded 1PHFI column with rigid
plates attached to both ends in order to investigate the necessity of rigid
plates at the column ends. Two spot welded short columns
(180701PHFI12s200a - without end bearing plates and
180701PHFI12s200b - with end bearing plates) were tested. Similar
elastic local buckling behaviour was observed in both of these tests, and
the ultimate failure loads (169 and 165 kN) were similar as evident
from Table 1. The failure modes of columns shown in Fig. 6(a) and (b)
also agree well. The applied load versus axial deformation plots for both
columns are presented in Fig. 8(a), which agree well. Therefore, the
remaining columns were tested without using the end plates.
The built-up 1PHFI stub columns were tested using the same
procedures mentioned above, and the results of the spot-welded and

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S. Kesawan et al. Thin-Walled Structures 116 (2017) 180–193

Fig. 10. Local buckling failure modes of 1PHFI specimens, (a) Spot welded, (b) Screw fastened.

Table 5 screw fastened sections are summarised in Tables 1, 2. In these sections

Effect of fastener spacing on the failure loads 3PHFIs. local buckling waves developed in the web and flange elements after a
certain load, followed by the test column failure by yielding of their
Specimen Pu-s100 (kN) Pu-s400 (kN) Pu-s100/P u-s400
web and flange elements as shown in Fig. 7. Fig. 8(a)–(c) present the
160703PHFI1212 177 162 1.09 load versus axial deformation plots obtained from the tests. Their
160703PHFI1220 194 166 1.17 behaviour is typical for all the 1PHFI sections considered in this study.
180703PHFI1616 227 197 1.15 Fig. 8 shows that in general the elastic stiffness of both spot welded and
180703PHFI1620 239 189 1.27
screw fastened sections reduces with increased spacing.
Note: Pu-s100, Pu-s400 – ultimate failure loads of 3PHFIs with 100 and 400 mm screw Table 3 presents the results of the built-up hollow flange I-sections
spacing, respectively. made of three steel elements (3PHFI sections) with screw fastening

Fig. 11. HFC specimens, (a) 90HFC, (b) 150HFC, (c) 180 HFC, (d) Typical rivet spacing, (e) Fabricated specimens.

185
S. Kesawan et al.
Instron
machine
Top loading
arm
Stub column
Pyrocrete
(a)
Fig. 12. Test set-up of HFC specimens (a) Stub column under load, (b) End Plate for 150 HFC sections.
connections. Four 3PHFI sections were considered where in one of them
(180703PHFI1620s100), web and flange elements were of different
thicknesses (1.2 and 2 mm). The load versus axial deformation plots of
3PHFI columns are shown in Fig. 9, which reveal that the elastic
stiffness of 160703PHFI1212 sections reduces with increased screw
spacing, while that of 160703PHFI sections is about the same irrespec-
tive of screw spacing.
2.3. Discussion of test results
In this section the effects of web-flange connectivity and its spacing
on the capacity of 1PHFI and 3PHFI section columns are discussed.
2.3.1. Effects of connection types
Two types of connections, spot welding and screw fastening, were
used to connect the web and flange elements of 1PHFI sections. Table 4
compares the failure loads of spot welded and screw fastened 1PHFI
section columns, which shows that the differences between the failure
loads are very small. Table 4 also presents the mean value of the Pu-sp
(ultimate capacity of spot welded 1PHFI) to Pu-sc (ultimate capacity of
screw fastened 1PHFI), which is 1.01, and the coefficient of variation,
which is 0.02. This indicates that both fastening types can provide the
same compression capacity of built-up 1PHFI sections. Importantly, the
fasteners did not fail during the tests. These conclude that the spot
welds and screw fasteners used are adequate to provide the required
connectivity between the web and flange elements. Fig. 10 shows the
local buckling failure modes of spot welded and screw fastened
180701PHFI sections, which are very similar.
2.3.2. Effects of screw spacing
The connection spacing could affect the buckling behaviour and
capacity of the built-up 1PHFI sections. Hence connection spacing was
varied (100, 200 and 400 mm) with an aim to find the optimum
spacing. From Tables 1–3 and the discussion in the last section on spot
welded or screw fastened 1PHFI sections, the small difference in the
ultimate capacities of spot welded or screw fastened 1PHFI sections was
when screw/spot welding spacings of 100 and 200 mm were used.
However, in most of the cases the capacity significantly reduced when
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Thin-Walled Structures 116 (2017) 180–193
125
62.5 60
30
45
15
280 155
45
46.5
30
62.5
(b)
the screw spacing was increased to 400 mm, i.e., the difference was
about 9% when the fastener spacing was increased from 100 to 400 mm
in 180701PHFI12 columns. For 180701PHFI20 sections the ultimate
capacities were about the same, irrespective of the screw spacing. This
was because of the thicker web and flange elements. Based on the
results, either 100 or 200 mm spacing can be used in the built-up 1PHFI
columns. However, this study conservatively recommends a screw or
spot weld spacing of 100 mm.
Unlike the ultimate capacities of built-up 1PHFI sections, there are
noticeable drops in the section capacity of built-up 3PHFI sections when
the screw spacing is increased from 100 mm to 200 mm, which is about
6% for 180703PHFI12 and 180703PHFI16 sections. Table 5 shows the
section capacity ratio of the 3PHFI sections with 400 mm screw spacing
in comparison to those with 100 mm spacing. The ratios are higher for
3PHFI sections with 400 mm spacing, with a difference of more than
10% in most cases. The maximum difference is about 27% in
180703PHFI1620 section columns. These results demonstrate that the
reduction in compression capacity due to increasing screw spacing is
higher for 3PHFI sections compared to 1PHFI sections. This is because
1PHFI section is made of single steel sheet where the web is connected
to the flange from one side as the other side is similar to fully welded
conditions (Fig. 2(a)). However, in 3PHFI sections, the web needs to be
connected to flanges on both sides (Fig. 2(b)), and hence this connec-
tion should be more rigid than that in 1PHFI section as the web element
has a higher tendency to behave separately from flanges. If the screw
spacing increases, the web element would tend to behave like an
element unsupported along both edges, and the compression capacity
will reduce. Therefore, a connection spacing of 100 mm or less is
recommended for 3PHFI sections. Furthermore, it is yet to be verified
whether even 100 mm spacing provides a restraint condition equivalent
to continuously welded connections (Section 2.4.1).
2.4. Comparison of ultimate capacities from experiments and steel design
standards
2.4.1. Effective width design method
Kesawan and Mahendran [12] conducted a detailed study on the
section compression capacity of welded hollow flange channel sections
S. Kesawan et al.
Fig. 13. Comparison of load versus axial deformation curves for HFC sections (a)
HFC12G30012G300, (b) HFC12G300115G500, (c) HFC12G300190G450, (d)
HFC12G300055G300, (e) HFC12G30012G300w.
(LSBs), and showed that their capacities can be successfully predicted
using the effective width method (EWM) given in AS/NZS 4600 [20]
and Eurocode 3 Part 1.3 [27]. The following section evaluates whether
these design rules are suitable to predict the section compression
capacity of built-up 1PHFI and 3PHFI sections. Furthermore by
comparing the AS/NZS4600 design rule predictions of 1PHFI and
3PHFI sections, it can be verified whether the connection spacing used
187
Thin-Walled Structures 116 (2017) 180–193
is adequate to provide the required edge restraints. The calculation
procedure is the same in Eurocode 3 Part 1.3 [27] and AISI S100 [25].
The ultimate capacities of the tested columns were calculated using
the effective width method based on the measured centre line dimen-
sions. Since the elements are thin-walled in nature, the small corner
radius was neglected in the design calculations. The web element was
assumed to be fully supported along both longitudinal edges. The web
length was taken as the distance between the web to flange connec-
tions, with a uniform base metal thickness in the effective area
calculations. Furthermore, the length of the outstand element (lip)
was taken as the length from the lip-flange junction to the lip end.
Table 1 compares the experimental ultimate capacities with the
design rule predictions for spot welded 1PHFI sections. The design rule
predictions are slightly conservative for 1PHFI sections with 100 and
200 mm connection spacing while they are slightly unconservative for
1PHFI sections with 400 mm connection spacing.
This observation was the same for screw fastened 1PHFI sections
(Table 2). For 3PHFI sections, the predictions are on the safe side for
100 mm screw spacing (Table 3). In the case of 200 mm screw spacing,
the predictions are slightly conservative for 16703PHFI12 and
160703PHFI20 sections while they are unconservative for
160703PHFI16 sections. The design rule predictions are unconservative
when 400 mm spacing is used, with a difference of more than 12%.
Based on these observations it can be concluded that the effective width
method can be successfully used to predict the section compression
capacity of built-up 1PHFI members with a fastener spacing equal to or
less than 200 mm, and built-up 3PHFI members with a fastener spacing
equal to or less than 100 mm. Since the effective width method
successfully predicts the section compression capacity of the built-up
3PHFI members with 100 mm fastener spacing, it can also be concluded
that 100 mm fastener spacing is adequate for these sections.
2.4.2. Direct strength method
The direct strength method (DSM) has been increasingly used in the
design of cold-formed steel members due its simplicity in dealing with
complex buckling problems. The DSM design rules are given in
Appendix E of AS/NZS4600 [20] and AISI S100 [25]. DSM considers
the global, local and distortional buckling instabilities, and their
interactions and post-buckling capacities [28,29]. To date this method
has been verified to predict the structural capacities of various cold-
formed steel sections including lipped channel sections with and
without stiffeners and Z-sections [29], but its applicability is still under
investigations for hollow flange sections. Kesawan and Mahendran [12]
investigated their suitability for welded hollow flange channel (HFC)
sections and concluded that DSM equations cannot be used in the
present form as they are too conservative for cold-formed and fully
welded HFC sections with uniform yield strengths. Hence they proposed
modifications to the equations, which were limited to welded HFC
sections of uniform thickness and yield strength. However, there is a
need to investigate whether the modified DSM equations can be applied
to screw fastened HFI/HFC sections. The DSM equations in Appendix E
of AS/NZS4600 [20] and the modified DSM equations [12] are
summarised in Appendix A of this paper.
The local buckling capacities of the HFI sections were obtained from
the buckling analyses using ABAQUS. For this purpose it was assumed
that the web-flange connection is continuous along the length. Since
these are very short columns, the Pne is assumed to be equal to Py (see
Appendix A). Tables 1–3 provide the DSM predictions and their
comparisons with the experimental results. The comparisons show that
there are large variations between the test results and DSM predictions,
with the predictions being on the conservative side. These tables also
compare the predictions using the modified DSM equations [12] with
the test results, and their agreements are improved.
Based on the AISI S100 [25] spacing requirements, to avoid column
like buckling behaviour, the minimum connector spacings for the 1.2,
1.6 and 2.0 mm thick web plates are 45, 63 and 81 mm, respectively,
S. Kesawan et al. Thin-Walled Structures 116 (2017) 180–193

Local buckling of
complete web
element

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Fig. 14. Failure progression of HFC12G300115G500 column (a) Initial condition, (b) At ultimate load, (c) and (d) Post-ultimate load.

Table 6
Ultimate failure loads of rivet-fastened HFCs.

Specimen Experimental failure AS/NZS 4600 Comparison

load PEX (kN) prediction
PEWM PEX/PEWM

180HFC12G30012G300 112 173 0.65

150HFC12G30012G300 84 172 0.49
90HFC12G30012G300 85 164 0.52
180HFC12G300115G500 107 181 0.59
150HFC12G300115G500 117 180 0.65
90HFC12G300115G500 106 173 0.61
180HFC12G300190G450 133 236 0.56
150HFC12G300190G450 113 233 0.48
90HFC12G300190G450 104 201 0.52
180HFC12G300055G300 82 148 0.55
150HFC12G300055G300 94 148 0.64
90HFC12G300055G300 96 147 0.65
Fig. 15. Comparison of the failure modes of Rivet Fastened and Welded HFC columns (a) 180HFC12G30012G300w 164 173 0.95
Rivet Fastened 150HFC12G30012G300, (b) Welded HFC [11]. 150HFC12G30012G300w 162 172 0.94

while they should also be limited to 45 mm based on the unstiffened
plate width (Bl in Fig. 2(a) and (b)). However, although larger
connector spacings (100–400 mm) were used in the tested intermit-
tently screw fastened or spot welded HFI sections, they were still able to
behave like a fully welded member. This is because unlike cover plated
hat sections, the plate element is sandwiched between the two
unstiffened elements of the hollow flanges (Figs. 2(a) and 4), and thus
allowing larger connector spacing to be used.
Overall this experimental study and the comparisons of their results
with design rule predictions have shown that the behaviour of inter-
mittently spot welded and screw fastened 1PHFI or 3PHFI sections is
similar to continuously welded HFI sections if the web to flange
connections are provided at a suitable spacing of about 100 mm or
less. In these built-up I-sections, the maximum plate slenderness
⎛ ⎞
⎜b / t fy /250 ⎟ of the web element and the unstiffened element of the
⎝ ⎠
flange are 100 and 14, respectively. The recommendation of 100 mm
connector spacing is applicable to HFI sections with their plate elements
having less than or equal to the above slenderness limits. Further
investigations are needed to determine the required connector spacing
for sections outside these limits. Furthermore, it is not known whether
the 100 mm connector spacing recommendation will be equally applic-
able to the intermittently screw fastened HFC sections (Fig. 2(c) and
(d)). Hence an experimental study of built-up hollow flange channel
sections was also undertaken and its details are given in the next
section.
3. Experimental study of built-up hollow flange channel section
stub columns
3.1. Hollow flange channel section specimens
This section presents the experimental study conducted to investi-
gate the behaviour of built-up HFC stub columns. For the HFC sections,
rivet fastening technique was used to connect the web and flange
elements instead of screw fastening due to its several advantages. The
HFC sections considered in this study were made of three elements, two
rectangular hollow flange elements and one web element. As discussed
earlier, these built-up sections can be made of flange and web elements
of varying steel grades and thicknesses, and this option was also
explored in this experimental study.
The fabrication process of the test sections commenced with the
formation of two rectangular flanges of 51×20 mm from 1.2 mm G300
cold-formed sheets (Fig. 11(a)–(e)). These flange sizes were restricted
by the available fabrication facilities. In all the tested stub columns, the
flange sizes, column length (230 mm) and the steel grade were the same
while the depth, thickness and grade of the web element were varied.
The required web plates were cut from the sheet and then connected to
the flanges using 6 mm diameter self-pierce rivets. Self-pierce riveting is
a cold-joining process where two or more sheets are connected by
driving a rivet through the top sheet and upsetting the rivet, under the
influence of a die, into the lower sheet without piercing it. Importantly
this is a non-thermal process hence it does not induce membrane
residual stress in the specimens.
The cross-sectional depth of the built-up HFC member with rivet

188
S. Kesawan et al. Thin-Walled Structures 116 (2017) 180–193

180 mm

150 mm

90 mm

Local buckling of
complete web element

Rivet
failure

Fig. 16. Failure modes of HFC columns. (a) HFC12G30012G300 (b) 180HFC12G300190G450 columns.

sections are shown in Fig. 11(e), and are identified by the following
designation: 150HFC12G50016G350, where 150 – section depth, HFC –
hollow flange channel section made of three elements (3P was not used since
all the tested columns were made of three steel elements), 12 – flange
thickness of 1.2 mm, G500 – steel grade of flange element, 16 – web
thickness of 1.6 mm and G350 – steel grade of web element.
Tensile tests were also conducted on specimens cut from the 1.2 mm
G300, 1.15 mm G550, 0.55 mm G300 and 1.9 mm G450 steel sheets,
and their average yield strengths were found to be 352, 585, 373 and
527 MPa, respectively, while their elastic modulus was about
200,000 MPa.

3.2. Test method

Since HFC sections are mono-symmetric, fixed end conditions were

Fig. 17. Plate elements of HFC Sections.
fastening connection was varied by choosing different lengths for web
elements. In this study built-up HFC sections of three depths were
considered −90, 150 and 180 mm. Further, different thickness/grade
web elements were also used: 1.2 mm G300, 1.15 mm G550, 0.55 mm
G300 and 1.9 mm G450. The rivet fastening was used at 50 mm
(< 100 mm) spacing as shown in Fig. 11(d) while the first rivet was
placed at a distance of 15 mm from the column ends. The built-up HFC
simulated at both ends of the columns. A special arrangement was made
at the column ends in this test series. A hole which is larger than the
fabricated built-up HFC stub columns was made in a 8 mm thick steel
plate. This plate was then bolted to a 20 mm thick steel plate (Fig. 12).
Both ends of the test specimen were then placed inside the hole and
filled with Pyrocrete grouting as shown in Fig. 12. Thereafter, the test
specimen was placed in the machine and a compression load was
gradually applied to it until failure. Fig. 12 shows the test set-up for
HFC specimens. The load versus axial deformation plots of tested
columns are shown in Fig. 13(a)–(e).

189
S. Kesawan et al. Thin-Walled Structures 116 (2017) 180–193

6 4
8
Element B 2 3
7 1
Element A 14 mm
9 10 mm
Element C 10

11

10'
9'
7' 1'
2' 3'
(a) (b) 6' 8'
4'
Fig. 18. Hollow flange I- and channel sections made of three steel plates (a) 3PHFI, (b) 5'
3PHFC.

3.3. Test results and their comparison with design rule predictions Fig. 20. Rivet Fastened stiffened HFC section (a) HFC12G30012G300 stub column with
50 mm rivet spacing (b) Plate elements of stiffened channel section.
During the tests, local buckling waves were observed along the
specimen length. These buckling waves then started to confine to Table 7
one location as shown in Fig. 14. At this time, local buckling waves Ultimate failure loads of stiffened and unstiffened HFCs.
were also observed in the outstand element between the rivet
locations, i.e. flange and lip elements. Unlike the local web buckling Specimen Experimental AS/NZS Comparison
failure load 4600
observed in the welded hollow flange sections [12] shown in Fig. 15(b),
PEX (kN) prediction
local buckling occurred across the entire cross-section width through PEWM PEX / PEWM
buckling deformations of web, flange and lip elements between the
rivet locations. Fig. 14(a)–(d) show this failure mode including the Unstiffened150HFC12G300115G500 137 185 0.73
Stiffened150HFC12G300115G500 175 217 0.81
progression of local buckling, ultimate and post-ultimate failures. This
Unstiffened150HFC12G30012G300 110 176 0.63
failure mode occurred because the intermittent rivet fastening did not Stiffeed150HFC12G30012G300 146 192 0.76
provide full restraints similar to continuous welding. This kind of
buckling behaviour would have led to premature failures of test
columns. In all other tests, the failure behaviour was similar, except capacity of cold-formed and welded hollow flange channel sections with
for 180HFC12G30019G450 sections, where the rivets also failed before a reasonable degree of accuracy [12]. Hence if the experimental failure
reaching their ultimate loads. Figs. 14–16 show the failed load results agree well with the effective width based capacity predic-
HFC12G300115G500, HFC12G30012G300 and 180HFC12G30019- tions for the built-up HFC sections based on the assumption of a
G450 columns. continuous web-flange connection, it can be concluded that the inter-
The effective width method predicted the section compression mittent rivet fastening spacing used is adequate to attain their full section

Fig. 19. 180HFC12G30012G300W Columns (a) Before failure, (b) After failure.

190
S. Kesawan et al.
compression capacity. The compression capacities of the tested built-up
HFC stub columns were calculated using the effective width method
(EWM) in AS/NZS 4600 [20] based on the measured centre line
dimensions. The different elements considered in the calculations are
shown in Fig. 17. In these elements 7, 7′, 8, 8′, 9 and 9′ were considered
as one edge supported outstand elements while other elements were
considered as both edges supported, and thus corresponding k factors of
0.43 and 4 were used. Table 6 compares the AS/NZS 4600 predictions
with the experimental results, which shows large discrepancies between
them. As an example, for 150HFC12G300115G500 section, the predicted
experimental failure load is about 35% less than that of EWM prediction.
This proves that the built-up HFC sections with even a small rivet spacing
of 50 mm did not behave similar to continuously welded sections. As
evident from some cases in Table 6, differences of more than 40% can be
seen between the test results and EWM based capacity predictions.
Ropalin et al. [30] and Keerthan and Mahendran [31] performed
bending and shear tests of built-up HFC sections with 50 mm rivet
spacing. Although they observed differences between the shear and
bending capacities of welded and built-up sections, the differences were
only about 10%. Element 5 (Fig. 17) is the major contributor for the
shear capacity of the built-up HFC section, and if the flanges provide
sufficient rigidity for Element 5, these sections would reach the shear
capacity closer to that of continuously welded section, and this was the
case in Keerthan and Mahendran [31]. In the bending tests, one of the
flanges is in compression while the other in tension with web Element 5
subjected to bending action. However, in the built-up HFC columns, all
the plate elements are in compression and are susceptible to local
buckling. If the flange elements buckle, then their support to the web
element becomes questionable in the intermittently rivet fastened
sections. This might result in the web element behaving as an
unsupported element along both edges. In the column tests the length
of Element B in Fig. 18(b)) was less than the screw spacing, and would
have acted as one edge supported element and thus subjected to
premature local buckling. This means adequate support was not
available to the web element along both of its longitudinal edges,
which led to premature failure of the built-up HFC columns. However,
this did not happen in the 3PHFI sections since the length of Element A
(Fig. 18(a)), which supports the web element along both longitudinal
edges, is small and, thus these elements do not undergo premature local
buckling. From this lesson learnt it can be expected that if the built-up
sections should attain their full compression capacities, the screw/rivet
spacing should be reduced further.
To verify this, the rivet spacing was reduced from 50 mm to
16.6 mm as shown in Fig. 19(a) in the built-up HFC columns. These
sections (180HFC12G30012G300w and 150HFC12G30012G300w,
Fig. 21. Failed Rivet Fastened stiffened HFC sections (a) HFC12G30012G300 column (b) HFC12G300115G500 column.
191
Thin-Walled Structures 116 (2017) 180–193
where w is the rivet spacing of 16.6 mm) were then tested, and their
compression capacities are given in Table 6. These columns have higher
capacities than those HFC sections with 50 mm rivet spacing, and the
differences were more than 45%. Furthermore, importantly the test
results matched very closely with the EWM design predictions.
Fig. 19(b) shows that local buckling failure did not occur across the
entire section width between the rivet locations. These observations
demonstrate that the built-up HFC sections with 16.6 mm rivet spacing
have acted similar to continuously welded sections. However, the use of
such a small rivet spacing is not desirable in practical applications.
As another solution to improve the compression capacity of inter-
mittently rivet fastened HFC sections, the use of stiffened web elements
was attempted as shown in Fig. 20. In order to investigate the behaviour
of such web stiffened sections, an experimental study was performed for
two different sections. For comparison purposes, these sections with
both unstiffened and stiffened web elements were considered. Hence a
total of four tests was conducted and the details are summarised in
Table 7. The same test method described in Section 3.2 was used.
Table 7 presents the test failure capacity results while the failed
specimens are shown in Figs. 21 and 22 with the latter showing the
failure mode including the progression of local buckling, ultimate and
post-ultimate failures. The section compression capacities were pre-
dicted using the effective width method in AS/NZS 4600 based on
continuous connection between elements and, are compared with test
failure capacities in Table 7. The HFC sections with stiffened web
elements gave higher ultimate loads than those with unstiffened web
elements, but their failure modes again demonstrated the effects of
discontinuity along the web-flange-lip connection (Figs. 21 and 22).
The use of web stiffeners prevented local buckling across the full section
width between the rivet locations. However, local buckling failure
could now be seen in the middle web element and then in the flange
element. Due to this, the built-up HFC sections with web stiffened
elements and 50 mm rivet spacing could not reach the ultimate load of
identical sections with continuous welded connections. Table 7 proves
this through the section compression capacity calculations using EWM
based on continuous connections between various plate elements as
shown in Fig. 20(b).
Based on the AISI S100 [25] requirements, the minimum connector
spacing for the 1.2 mm G300, 1.15 mm G550, 0.55 mm G300 and
2.0 mm G450 thick web plates to avoid column like buckling behaviour
are 43, 32, 19 and 55 mm, respectively, which should also be limited to
60 mm based on the unstiffened plate width (Bl in Fig. 2(c) and (d)). A
connector spacing of 50 mm for the above mentioned web plates is
larger than the minimum spacing based on AISI S100 [25], except for
the 2.0 mm G450 thick web plate. But the 16.6 mm connector spacing
S. Kesawan et al.
Fig. 22. Failure progression of stiffened HFC12G300115G500 column (a) Initial condition, (b) At ultimate load, (c) and (d) Post-ultimate load.
for 1.2 mm G300 steel web plate is less than the minimum spacing
based on AISI S100 [25]. In this study, built-up HFC sections with
50 mm spacing did not behave like a fully welded section, but the
section with 16.6 mm spacing behaved liked a fully welded section.
Hence the AISI S100 [25] guideline appears to be applicable to the
built-up HFC sections made of three plate elements. Further investiga-
tions are needed since this study was based on a small number of tests
of built-up HFC sections.
In summary, this research has shown that the effect of intermittently
rivet/screw fastening on the section compression capacity of HFC
sections is quite significant (> 35%) in comparison with continuously
welded HFC sections, unless very small rivet/screw spacings are used.
The use of stiffened web elements improved this situation, but the loss
in the section compression capacity was still about 25%. Alternatively,
HFC sections fabricated using single steel sheet as shown in Fig. 2(c)
can be used without such a large loss in compression capacity.
However, intermittently rivet/screw fastened doubly symmetric HFI
sections (single steel sheet or three steel elements) do not suffer from
such detrimental effects in relation to their section compression
capacities.
4. Conclusions
This paper has described a detailed experimental investigation on
the section compression capacity of built-up cold-formed steel hollow
flange sections. Hollow flange I- (HFI) and hollow flange channel (HFC)
sections were considered that were made of either single steel sheet or
three steel elements, and their web and flange elements were connected
by screw/rivet fastening or spot welding. Experimental results showed
that screw fastening and spot welding provided the same level of
connectivity between web and flange elements. It was found that HFI
sections made using single steel sheet performed adequately with less
than 15% capacity reductions for larger screw/weld spacings such as
400 mm, but not for those made using three steel elements. Therefore, a
fastener spacing of 100 mm or less is conservatively recommended for
Appendix A. Design rules
Direct Strength Method (DSM) in AS/NZS4600
2
For λc ≤ 1.5, Pne = (0.658λc ) Py
⎛ 0.877 ⎞
For λc > 1.5, Pne = ⎜ 2 ⎟ Py
⎝ λc ⎠
λc = Py / Pcre
Py = Ag fy
192
Thin-Walled Structures 116 (2017) 180–193
both types of built-up HFI sections. The effective width method in cold-
formed steel design standards with an assumption of continuous
connections between various plate elements was able to predict the
section compression capacities of HFI sections obtained from tests for
100 mm screw/spot weld spacing. This confirms that the behaviour of
HFI sections is similar to continuously welded sections with minimum
detrimental effects caused by intermittent fastening along web to flange
connections. However, the current direct strength method based design
equations were unable to predict the section compression capacities.
The predictions from the modified direct strength method in [12]
matched reasonably well with the test results.
In contrast to HFI sections, the behaviour of HFC section stub
columns fabricated using three steel elements was significantly influ-
enced by intermittent fastening with premature local buckling occur-
ring across the full section width. The rivet fastened HFC sections were
unable to reach a section compression capacity that is closer to that of
continuously welded section unless a very small rivet spacing
(< 20 mm) was used. The use of stiffened web elements also could
not eliminate this problem. The use of the effective design method with
the assumption of continuous connections between plate elements did
not provide the failure loads from the tests, thus confirming the
significant detrimental effects of intermittent fastening on the section
compression capacity of HFC sections. Therefore the use of HFC
sections fabricated using single steel sheet is recommended as it is
unlikely to suffer from the above detrimental effects. Overall this study
has improved the current knowledge on the section compression
capacities of built-up cold-formed steel hollow flange sections.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank QUT for providing the necessary
laboratory testing and computing facilities, and QUT and Australian
Research Council (Grant Number LP0669668) for providing the finan-
cial support to conduct this research project.
(A1)
(A2)
(A3)
(A4)
S. Kesawan et al. Thin-Walled Structures 116 (2017) 180–193

Where; Ag is the gross sectional area, fy is the yield stress and Pcre is the minimum of the critical elastic column buckling load in flexural, torsional or
flexural-torsional buckling.
For local buckling,

Pne ⎡ ⎛ P ⎞0.4 ⎤ ⎛ P ⎞0.4

For > 0.776, Pnl = ⎢1 − 0.15 ⎜ crl ⎟ ⎥ ⎜ crl ⎟ Pne
Pcrl ⎢⎣ ⎝ Pne ⎠ ⎥⎦ ⎝ Pne ⎠ (A5)

Pne
For ≤ 0.776, Pnl = Pne
Pcrl (A6)
Where; Pnl is the local buckling capacity, Pcrl is the critical elastic local buckling load Modified DSM Equations [12]

Pne ⎡ ⎛ P ⎞0.24⎤ ⎛ P ⎞0.24

For > 0.71, Pnl = ⎢1 − 0.1 ⎜ crl ⎟ ⎥ ⎜ crl ⎟ Pne
Pcrl ⎢⎣ ⎝ Pne ⎠ ⎥⎦ ⎝ Pne ⎠ (A7)

Pne
For ≤ 0.71, Pnl = Pne
Pcrl (A8)

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