Return to search

Monotonic and Cyclic Simulation of  Screw-Fastened Connections for Cold-Formed Steel Framing

This thesis introduces an approach for modeling the monotonic and cyclic response of cold-formed steel framing screw-fastened connections in commercial finite element programs. The model proposed and verified herein lays the groundwork for seismic modeling of cold-formed steel (CFS) framing including shear walls, gravity walls, floor and roof diaphragms, and eventually whole building seismic analysis considering individual fastener behavior and CFS structural components modeled with thin-shell elements. An ABAQUS user element (UEL) is written and verified for a nonlinear hysteretic model that can simulate pinching and strength and stiffness degradation consistent with CFS screw-fastened connections. The user element is verified at the connection level, including complex cyclic deformation paths, by comparing to OpenSees connection simulation results. The connection model is employed in ABAQUS shear wall simulations of recent monotonic and cyclic experiments where each screw-fastened connection is represented as a UEL. The experimental and simulation results are consistent for shear wall load-deformation response and cyclic strength and stiffness degradation, confirming the validity of the UEL element and demonstrating that light steel framing performance can be directly studied with simulations as an alternative to experiments. / Master of Science

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/55270
Date04 August 2015
CreatorsDing, Chu
ContributorsCivil and Environmental Engineering, Moen, Cristopher D., Eatherton, Matthew R., Koutromanos, Ioannis
PublisherVirginia Tech
Source SetsVirginia Tech Theses and Dissertation
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
FormatETD, application/pdf
RightsIn Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Page generated in 0.0015 seconds