THE USE OF FILLED STEEL STRUCTURE IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AN EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DESIGN OF SLAG STONE FILLED THIN WELDED COLD FORMED STEEL STUBS
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Date
2009
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Abstract
The objective of this work is to increase the understanding of how light steel structure construction should
be designed to ensure that buildings using this technology can achieve optimum resistance compared to
conventional system and excellent comfort conditions and, be used in an energy efficient manner.
Results of tests conducted on thin welded rectangular steel-concrete stubs are presented. The stub section
was made from two U shaped cold formed steel plates welded to form box whose dimensions were:
100x70x2mm. The main parameters studied were: stub height (50-500mm), effect of the concrete infill
and the weld fillet location. The tests were carried out 28 days after the date of casting the concrete infill
under axial compression up to failure. A total of 28 stubs were tested, 14 were empty and 14 filled with
concrete made with crushed crystallized slag aggregate. The object of the study was to investigate the
failure load of composite sections and the use of crushed slag instead of conventional aggregate. From
test results it was confirmed that the length of stubs had a drastic effect on the failure load and resulted
from local buckling. It appeared that the location of weld fillets had only a slight effect on the failure load
for empty steel stubs and was insignificant for composite stubs.
Methods of measuring and calculating thermal resistance in light steel framing are reviewed and the effect
of detail design decisions on thermal performance and condensation risk are considered. The importance
of air infiltration and thermal mass are also discussed, and methods of achieving good air tightness and
integrating thermal mass into light steel frame construction are presented. A variety of alternative ways of
avoiding thermal bridging through the steel are reviewed.
The work also reviews computer simulation design tools and identify how these can be used in the detail
design of light steel framing. Thus, chapter 6 discusses the most appropriate computer simulation tools
that can provide a detailed analysis of the thermal and hydroscopic performance of building envelopes
using light steel framing.
These tools provide the opportunity to optimise the location and thickness of insulation and vapour
control layers to avoid excessive thermal bridging and the risk of condensation. They also allow the
assessment of the impact of alternative strategies for incorporating more thermal capacity into buildings.
They can be used to optimise the thermal characteristics of the whole building to provide comfort,
durability and energy efficient performance.