Experimental investigation on the flexural performance of reinforced cold-formed steel 'C' section beams

A very interesting technical objective for the improvement of the mechanical performance of cold formed profiles is to avoid its instability or even to reduce its effect. Among the proposed solutions, the reinforcement of the section with struts offers an optimal alternative. Positioned parallel to the web and fixed to the edges of the flanges, the struts perfectly counteract local instability and delay global instability. This study is a component of an experimental and numerical strategy to determine how much of an impact this kind of reinforcement will have on the overall strength of a bent C-beam.Two profile sizes and various variants of strut reinforcement are proposed. Experimentally, the profile is progressively braced between its flanges with square pieces, the side of which is equal to the height of the web. Thus, blocking their warping, at defined spacing, one could judge the contribution of the device added to the flexural rigidity. Following a finites elements modelling (ABAQUS) andthen a characterization of the cross-section according to Eurocode 3, the article proposes a prediction model that can estimate the contribution of the struts to the flexural rigidity of these profiles. The results were encouraging, as the flexural inertia can double at certain strut spacing, with almost no change in weight.