ABSTRACT
Cold-formed steel products find extensive application in modern construction in both low-rise and highrise steel buildings. Primary as well as secondary framing members in low-rise construction are fabricated using cold-formed steel sections, while in tall buildings, roof and floor decks, steel joists, wall panels, door and window frames, and sandwich panel partitions built out of cold-formed steel sections have been successfully used. In addition, these products are used in car bodies, railway coaches, storage racks, grain bins, highway products, and transmission towers. Although the uses of these products are many and varied, a multiplicity of widely different products, with a tremendous diversity of shapes, sizes, and applications, are produced in steel using the cold-forming process. This chapter is primarily concerned with the design of cold-formed steel members for use in building construction. However, the general design philosophies developed in the chapter are applicable in many cases over a wide range of other uses. More detailed information on cold-formed steel structures are available in books by Yu (1991), Rhodes (1991), and Hancock (1988).
