Truss beams nodes with cold-formed sections. Preliminary study

Abstract

This article study a truss beam solution commonly used in small-span shed constructions, which has gained significant popularity among less formal structure manufacturers in the industry. The beam is designed using cold-formed C-section profiles, which are highly available in the market and come in various dimensions. The particulary of the structure it’s bases on the detail of the conection between bars, because the diagonals are welded to the stiffeners lips of chords, result in a dificult solution to evaluate using traditional analysis methods. The outcome of the proyect would have a significant impact, because confirm the validity of the sistem or identify its shortcomings, providing recommendations about the reduction of the theoretical capacities of these beams, if applicable. The study is primarily based on systematically employing finite element models for different solutions and conducting corresponding result comparisons with real tests using scaled models that are as representative as possible.