Structural Performance of Cold-Formed Steel in a Composite Beam System

In steel and construction industry, hot-rolled steel (HRS) section and cold-formed steel (CFS) section are two distinguished steel sections that are used. However, among the two steel sections, HRS is the most familiar among building contractors and engineers. The use and application of CFS sections started in the United States of America (USA) and Great Britain for decades, mainly for non-structural purposes only. Though, the use of CFS is expanding in the present era of building constructions. However, in the mid- 20th century, the structural use of CFS sections began especially for commercial and industrial building constructions. Recently, the use of CFS sections as an alternative material for roof structure keep increasing due to the quality assurance of steel structures. CFS sections are lightweight material produced by bending a flat steel sheet at room temperature into a desired shape that can withstand more load than the flat sheet itself; and are suitable for building construction owing to their high structural performance. The use of composite systems comprising of concrete and hot-rolled steel sections is well established as observed in current design codes.