Distortional buckling behaviour of intermediate cold-formed steel lipped channel section with various web stiffeners under compression

The aim of the study is to investigate the distortional buckling behaviour of intermediate cold-formed lipped channel section under pinned end condition subjected to axial compression. An extensive test and numerical investigation of cold-formed lipped channel column with various types of intermediate web stiffeners is presented. In this study, three types of intermediate web stiffeners are chosen such as V, U and Σ. The entire cross-sectional dimensions meet with the pre-qualified column dimension given in Direct Strength Method for cold-formed steel structures. Totally, 12 columns are tested and results are compared with the numerical analysis. Numerical analysis is carried out using software ABAQUS. Material and geometric imperfections are incorporated in the FE model. Selected section dimensions met with the distortional buckling mode. Good correlation is achieved between experiment and finite element analysis. All the results are compared with the Direct Strength Method specifications for cold-formed steel structures. Based on the comparison of results, a suitable design modification is proposed. Furthermore, results are verified with the existing results which are available from the literature.