Seismic Behavior of Cold Formed Light Steel Walls with K-Braced and Upgraded Connections under Lateral Monotonic Loading

This research focused on seismic performance of cold formed light steel walls with internal K-braced and upgraded connections under lateral monotonic loading. To do so, first of all an ABAQUS software model for an available experimental specimen was made of internal cold formed K-braced frame and the accuracy of analytical results was proved in comparison with the existing experimental results. Afterwards, four finite element cold formed light steel wall samples were constructed from C section shape with dimension of 2.4 m to 2.4 m and nonlinear analysed under lateral monotonic loading by changing the single member to double cross sections for bracing and chord members connected to gusset plate. Displacement control method loading was applied to all models. For all specimens, the lateral load, stiffness, energy absorption curves in terms of absolute lateral displacement and drift were extracted as well as failure mode and ductility factor. Finally, the double K-braced cold formed members with modified connections showed adequate seismic performance with 1.91, 2.19, 1.85 and 1.03 times increase of shear resistance, energy absorption, stiffness and ductility compared to control specimen, respectively.