Net Section Tension Capacity of Cold-Reduced Sheet Steel Angle Braces Bolted at One Leg

This paper examines the accuracy of equations specified by the North American and Australasian steel structures codes for determining the net section tension capacity of a cold-formed steel angle brace bolted at one leg. The configurations tested in the laboratory include single equal angle, single unequal angle bolted at the wider leg, single unequal angle bolted at the narrow leg, double angles, and alternate angles. The steel materials used in the experiment are among those with the lowest ductility for which nominal tensile strength is permitted by cold-formed steel design codes to be fully utilized in structural design calculations. Based on a modification to the equation derived for channel braces bolted at the web, a design equation is proposed for determining the net section tension capacity of a cold-formed steel angle brace bolted at one leg. The proposed equation is demonstrated, through laboratory tests on 61 specimens composed of G450 sheet steel, to be more accurate than the code equations and those existing in the literature.