Numerical simulations on cold-formed steel channels with flat slotted webs in shear. Part I: Elastic shear buckling characteristics.

This paper presents results of a numerical parametric study on elastic shear buckling of cold-formed steel channels with flat slotted webs. The study was performed on finite element models developed in ANSYS and validated against test data. The effects of perforation pattern, channel flange width, flange lip length, and aspect ratio on the elastic shear buckling load were investigated on the models with realistic and test setup boundary conditions. Equations for predicting the elastic shear buckling load of slotted channels were developed. The equations account for the effects of the studied parameters on the elastic shear buckling load of cold-formed steel channels with flat slotted webs and showed a good agreement with the finite element analysis results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]