Cold-formed steel trusses with semi-rigid joints

An experimental research program aiming to evaluate the semi-rigid behaviour of some typical bolted connections, that are used in cold-formed steel plane truss joints, was carried out in the Laboratory of CMMC Department of The 'Politehnica' University of Timisoara. From the experimental values of the resistant moment and initial stiffness of the joints, the semi-rigid character of tested joints were established via the Eurocode 3 provisions. A numerical analysis of this type of truss, in which this semi-rigid behaviour is taken into account using the experimental results, is performed in order to demonstrate the improvement of load capacity in comparison with the classical assumptions. Finally, a semianalytical method combined with FEM simulations, calibrated via some experimental results, is proposed, in order to carry out a parametric study on the local behaviour of this type of connection. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd All rights reserved.