Study Of Cold-formed Thin-wall Steel Structures In Multi-floor Residential Buildings

Due to the good performance of the cold-formed thin-walled steel structures, they have been widely used in factory buildings and the low-rise residential houses. However, there only has a limited application in the multi-story residential buildings. The present article attempts to investigate the possibility of the application of the cold-formed thin-walled steel structures in the multi-story residential buildings.Based on the understanding of the structural systems and the development of the residential buildings with steel members, a practical example is used as a numerical model to investigate the structural performance of the residential building, with the cold-formed thin-walled members. General finite element software SAP2000 is adapted to analysis the global structural behavior of the model building, under the combination action of the vertical and horizontal forces. The analyses are focused on how to arrange the structural members, the brace members, and determine the suitable size of the bracing rigidity, as the structure is required to satisfy the Chinese design code. Further numerical analyses are employed to compare the performance of the structural models with different structural systems; the possibility of application of the frames, made of the cold-formed thin-walled members in high-rise building, is also explored.On the other hand, the article also pays a large number of attentions on the joints, load-bearing wall system, non-load bearing wall system, floor system, and fire-resistance methods. The available investigations are summarized, some beneficial suggestions are found to guide the future design.The investigation of the present article demonstrates that the cold-formed thin-walled steel members can be used to build multi-story residential buildings; the requirements suggested in the Chinese design code, such as the displacement, stress, can be satisfied without difficulty. It is very important to employ brace members in the structural system, as they can greatly increase the rigidity. Further investigation also illustrated that the cold-formed thin-walled steel members can be used in high-rise buildings.