Design methods for profiled steel decks with intermediate stiffeners

Abstract Thin-walled cold formed profiled steel decking panels with intermediate stiffeners may exhibit distortional buckling involving transverse flexure of the stiffener. Local buckling in the flat plate elements between the flanges and webs may also occur. Varying degrees of post-buckled strength reserve may be encountered in sections undergoing local and/or distortional buckling. The extent of post-buckled strength reserve, as well as the ultimate moment capacity of the panel, are of interest to designers in their efforts to produce more efficient sections. Ultimate moment results for 27 profiled decking specimens tested in bending are compared with estimates derived using a number of design standards. The standards used were the AISI LRFD Cold-formed Steel Structures Specification 1991, Eurocode 3/Part 1.3, and Australian Standard AS1538-1988. Several additional methods for predicting the ultimate moment capacity have been proposed recently and these are also compared with the test results.