Session Dates

24 Aug 2012 - 25 Aug 2012

Abstract

As cold-formed steel construction continues to evolve, manufacturers are making advances in prefabricated connectors for use in a variety of applications. Often, establishing available strengths for connectors requires testing. This paper will examine some of the challenges associated with testing of these products. Available standards and criteria will be discussed, and an overview of potential difficulties with their use will be presented. Test programs conducted by one manufacturer during recent product development will be presented to illustrate some of the challenges and highlight innovations made to address them. Finally, based on experience gained through extensive testing and product development, recommendations for future direction to improve the state of the industry will be proposed.

Department(s)

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Research Center/Lab(s)

Wei-Wen Yu Center for Cold-Formed Steel Structures

Meeting Name

21st International Specialty Conference on Cold-Formed Steel Structures

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Document Version

Final Version

Rights

© 2012 Missouri University of Science and Technology, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

File Type

text

Language

English

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Aug 24th, 12:00 AM Aug 25th, 12:00 AM

Testing of Connectors for Cold-formed Steel Construction - Challenges, Recent Innovation, and Future Direction

As cold-formed steel construction continues to evolve, manufacturers are making advances in prefabricated connectors for use in a variety of applications. Often, establishing available strengths for connectors requires testing. This paper will examine some of the challenges associated with testing of these products. Available standards and criteria will be discussed, and an overview of potential difficulties with their use will be presented. Test programs conducted by one manufacturer during recent product development will be presented to illustrate some of the challenges and highlight innovations made to address them. Finally, based on experience gained through extensive testing and product development, recommendations for future direction to improve the state of the industry will be proposed.