Journal of Civil Engineering and Materials Application

Experimental Investigation on the Influence of Web Stiffeners in the Biaxial Bending Capacity of Cold-Formed Steel Z-Purlins

Volume 9, Issue 4
Autumn 2025
Pages 201-210

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Dept., Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract
Cold-formed steel Z-sections are widely used as roof purlins in industrial steel buildings. Due to their thin-walled nature, these members are highly susceptible to local, distortional, and lateral–torsional buckling, which often governs their ultimate load-carrying capacity. The flexural strength of Z-sections primarily depends on the mechanical properties of the material and the geometric characteristics of the cross-section. This study experimentally investigates the influence of web stiffeners on the biaxial flexural behavior of cold-formed Z-sections. Three specimens—two without stiffeners and one with an intermediate longitudinal web stiffener—were tested under simply supported conditions to evaluate the effect of stiffening on buckling behavior. The purlins were tested individually, without lateral bracing or roof sheeting, and were loaded in a sloped configuration to simulate actual roof conditions. A concentrated load was applied at midspan, aligned with the shear center of each section. The experimental results revealed that the stiffened specimen exhibited greater ductility and delayed local buckling compared with the unstiffened specimens. The addition of the web stiffener changed the failure mode from local buckling at midspan to lateral–torsional buckling, thereby improving overall stability and load-carrying capacity. It is concluded that introducing a web stiffener effectively enhances the flexural performance and buckling resistance of cold-formed Z-sections by providing additional stiffness and delaying local instability.

Keywords

Subjects
[1] Yu C, Schafer BW. Local buckling tests on cold-formed steel beams. Journal of Structural Engineering. 2003;129(12):1596-1606.  [View at Google Scholar]; [View at Publisher]
[2] Yu C, Schafer BW. Distortional buckling tests on cold-formed steel beams. Journal of Structural Engineering. 2006;132(4):515-528.  [View at Google Scholar]; [View at Publisher]
[3] Yu C, Schafer BW. Simulation of cold-formed steel beams in local and distortional buckling with applications to the direct strength method. Journal of Constructional Steel Research. 2007;63(5):581-590.  [View at Google Scholar]; [View at Publisher]
[4] American Iron and Steel Institute. Direct Strength Method (DSM) design guide. 2006.  [View at Google Scholar]; [View at Publisher]
[5] Schafer BW. Progress on the direct strength method. 2002.  [View at Google Scholar]; [View at Publisher]
[6] American Iron and Steel Institute. North American Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members, 2016 Edition. 2016.  [View at Google Scholar]; [View at Publisher]
[7] Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand. AS/NZS 4600:2005, Cold-Formed Steel Structures. 2005.  [View at Google Scholar]; [View at Publisher]
[8] Nguyen VV, Hancock GJ, Pham CH, editors. Application of the THIN-WALL-2 V2.0 program for analysis of thin-walled sections under localised loading. In: Proceedings of CIGOS 2017; 2018. Springer.  [View at Google Scholar]; [View at Publisher]
[9] Seek MW, Escobales N. Computational procedure for normal stresses in C-sections and Z-sections with one flange attached to sheathing. Journal of Structural Engineering. 2016;142(2):04015143.  [View at Google Scholar]; [View at Publisher]
[10 Pham CH, Bruneau LA, Hancock GJ. Experimental study of longitudinally stiffened web channels subjected to combined bending and shear. Journal of Structural Engineering. 2015;141(11):04015018.  [View at Google Scholar]; [View at Publisher]
[11] Wang C, Zhang Z, Zhao D, Bai Y. Experimental and numerical study on perforated channel columns with complex edge stiffeners and web stiffeners. Advances in Structural Engineering. 2015;18(8):1303-1318.  [View at Google Scholar]; [View at Publisher]
[12] Put Bogdan M, Pi Y-L, Trahair NS. Lateral buckling tests on cold-formed Z-beams. Journal of Structural Engineering. 1999;125(11):1277-1283.  [View at Google Scholar]; [View at Publisher]
[13] Put BM, Pi Y-L, Trahair N. Biaxial bending of cold-formed Z-beams. Journal of Structural Engineering. 1999;125(11):1284-1290.  [View at Google Scholar]; [View at Publisher]
[14] ASTM. E8/E8M Standard Test Methods of Tension Testing of Metallic Materials. Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol. 3.01.  [View at Google Scholar]; [View at Publisher]
  • Receive Date 20 October 2025
  • Revise Date 01 December 2025
  • Accept Date 24 December 2025