Comparative analysis of stiffening style of cold-formed thin-walled channel steel members

In this paper the different stiffening types (rectangular, V-shape, arc-shape) and their locations on the web how to influence the critical stresses of local buckling and distortional buckling and meanwhile the ultimate resistance capacity of the channel steel members is investigated. For the best stiffener i.e. V-shape stiffener, the influences of intersection angle between flange and lip on the critical stresses of local buckling and distortional buckling and furthermore ultimate resistance capacity are also considered. The critical stresses of local buckling and distortional buckling are analyzed by using a finite strip program CUFSM. The ultimate resistance capacities of cold-formed members are calculated by using the Direct Strength Method of the North American specification. The axial compression and pure bending are considered as two working conditions in optimization analysis of the cold-formed thin-walled channel steel members.