Experimental study of high thin-walled cold-rolled Z cross-sections purlins

Abstract

Thin-walled cross-sections (TWCS) are used in the construction industry in many applications. The advantage of TWCS is its low weight, which is advantageous both in handling structural elements and the overall value of the structure. The presented paper is focused on the behaviour of Z high thin-walled purlins (300 and 350 mm high) at the point of connection to the supporting structure and the evaluation of whether the existing standard approach can be used to design this type of detail. A total of 60 large-scale experiments were conducted in various settings and categories. The experiments aimed to determine the bearing capacity of the connection of the roof purlins to the supporting structure. Another goal was to determine the effect of the additional reinforcement clip on the overall load-bearing capacity of the connection. Therefore, individual load assemblies were tested with and without a reinforced clip. The results obtained were compared with the analytical procedure according to the standard. Then conclusions were drawn on the applicability of existing standard approaches for the studied purlin joints. The use of analytical calculations has been found to not always be appropriate.