• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.3 no.6
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• pp.451-474
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• 2003

Details are given of a cold-formed steel portal framing system that uses simple bolted moment-connections for both the eaves and apex joints. However, such joints function as semi-rigid and, as a result, the design of the proposed system will be dominated by serviceability requirements. While serviceability is a mandatory design requirement, actual deflection limits for portal frames are not prescribed in many of the national standards. In this paper, a review of the design constraints that have an effect on deflection limits is discussed, and rational values appropriate for use with cold-formed steel portal frames are recommended. Adopting these deflection limits, it is shown through a design example how a cold-formed steel portal frame having semi-rigid eaves and apex joints can be a feasible alternative to rigid-jointed frames in appropriate circumstances.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.277-285
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• 2017

Single-storey industrial buildings are one of the most often type of structures built among various skeletal framed steel constructions. These metallic buildings offer an exceptional opportunity to minimise the material employed, contributing to a more sustainable construction. In particular, the mansard portal frame is a typology made up of broken beams that involves different lengths and discontinuous slopes. This study aims the weight reduction of the standard mansard portal frame with design purposes by means of varying four parameters: the kink position, the eaves-apex slope, the span and the columns height. In this work, we suggest some guidelines that can improve the economical competitive capabilities of their structural design. In all the cases analysed, the joints of the portal frame are placed over the theoretical non-funicular shape to uniform loads. This allows reducing the bending moment and the shear force, but increasing the axial force. In addition, the performance of mansard and typical pitched portal frames submitted to the same boundary conditions is compared in terms of efficiency in the use of steel. In the large majority of the cases, mansard typologies are lighter than the common pitched frames and, hence, more economical.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 2021

This work studies the behaviour of a steel portal frame selection under fire exposure, considering both span lengths and fire exposure times as variables. Such structures combine carbon steel (S275), fireproof micro-alloyed steel (FR), and coatings of intumescent paint with variable thicknesses, improving thereby the flame retardant behaviour of the steel structure. Thus, the main contribution of this study is the optimization of the portal frames by combining both steels, analysing the resulting costs influence on the final dimensions. Besides, the topological optimization of each steel component within the structure is also defined, in accordance with the following variables: weather conditions, span, paint thickness, and cost of steel. The results mainly confirmed that using both FR and S275 grades with intumescent painting is the Pareto optimum when considering performance, feasibility and costs of such portal frames widely used for industrial facilities.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.479-489
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• 2000

Based on the stiffness equation of the tapered beam element involving the effects of axial force and shear deformation, numerical investigations are carried out on elastic instability for web-linearly tapered columns with I-section of steel portal frames. Effects of shear deformation on the effective length of the tapered columns with I-section are studied. An efficient approach for determining the effective length of the tapered portal frame columns considering effects of shear deformation is proposed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.187-200
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• 2001

Most of the portal frames are designed these days by the application of plastic analysis, with the normal assumption being made that the column bases are pinned. However, the couple produced by the compression action of the inner column flange and the tension in the holding down bolts will inevitably generate some moment resistance and rotational stiffness. Full-scale portal frame tests conducted during a previous research program had suggested that this moment can be as much as 20% of the moment of resistance of the column. The size of this moment of resistance is particularly important for the design of the tensile capacity of the holding down bolts and also the bearing resistance of the foundation. The present research program is aiming at defining this moment of resistance in simple design terms so that it could be included in the design of the frame. The investigation also included the study of the semi-rigid behaviour of the column base/foundation, which, to a certain extent, affects the overall loading capacity and stiffness of the portal frames. A series of column bases with various details were tested and were used to calibrate a finite element model which is able to simulate the action of the holding down bolts, the effect of the concrete foundation and the deformation of the base plate.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.227-237
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• 2017

This paper presents optimization of a long-span portal steel frame under dynamic wind loads using a surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithm. Long-span portal steel frames are often used in low-rise industrial and commercial buildings. The structure needs be able to resist the wind loads, and at the same time it should be as light as possible in order to be cost-effective. In this work, numerical model of a portal steel frame is constructed using structural analysis program (SAP2000), with the web-heights at five locations of I-sections of the columns and rafters as the decision variables. In order to evaluate the performance of a given design under dynamic wind loading, the equivalent static wind load (ESWL) is obtained from a database of wind pressures measured in wind tunnel tests. A modified formulation of the problem compared to the one available in the literature is also presented, considering additional design constraints for practicality. Evolutionary algorithms (EA) are often used to solve such non-linear, black-box problems, but when each design evaluation is computationally expensive (e.g., in this case a SAP2000 simulation), the time taken for optimization using EAs becomes untenable. To overcome this challenge, we employ a surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithm (SAEA) to expedite the convergence towards the optimum design. The presented SAEA uses multiple spatially distributed surrogate models to approximate the simulations more accurately in lieu of commonly used single global surrogate models. Through rigorous numerical experiments, improvements in results and time savings obtained using SAEA over EA are demonstrated.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.281-290
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• 2003

A series of connection tests of portal frames which were composed of cold-formed steel studs and rafters was carried out to study the moment-rotation relation, the rotational rigidity, and the yield and the ultimate moment of the connections. The main factors of the tests were the thickness, the shape of the connecting members which were made of mild steel, and the torsional restraints of the test specimens. The test results were compared with those obtained through the non-linear analysis, for verification. The secant stiffness estimated from the experimental moment-rotation curve was proposed for the rotational rigidity of semi-rigid connections, and its validity was verified in the structural frame analysis.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.2 no.6
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• pp.411-428
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• 2002

Non-linear large-displacement elasto-plastic finite element analyses are used to propose design recommendations for the eaves bracket of a cold-formed steel portal frame. Owing to the thinness of the sheet steel used for the brackets, such a structural design problem is not trivial as the brackets need to be designed against failure through buckling; without availability of the finite element method, expensive laboratory testing would therefore be required. In this paper, the finite element method is firstly used to predict the plastic moment capacity of the eaves bracket. Parametric studies are then used to propose design recommendations for the eaves bracket against two potential buckling modes of failure: (1) buckling of the stiffened free-edge into one-half sine wave, (2) local plate buckling of the exposed triangular bracket area.The results of full-scale laboratory tests on selected geometries of eaves bracket demonstrate that the proposed design recommendations are conservative. The use of the finite element method in this way exploits modern computational techniques for an otherwise difficult structural design problem.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.37-53
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• 2008

Plane steel portal frames, with pitched roof, exposed to fire, are examined. First, a determinate frame is analysed by hand. For flexible columns and shallow roof, snap-through occurs before plastic hinges mechanism is formed. An indeterminate frame with shorter columns and taller roof is also analysed by hand. Then, the same frame is simulated by a truss and a nonlinear static analysis is performed by use of a short computer program. The results of computer analysis by use of truss model are compared with those of analysis by hand and a satisfactory approximation between them is observed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.299-322
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• 2013

In the case of seismic-resistant composite dual moment resisting and eccentrically braced frames, the current design practice is to avoid the disposition of shear connectors in the expected plastic zones, and consequently to consider a symmetric moment or shear plastic hinges, which occur only in the steel beam or link. Even without connectors, the real behaviour of the hinge may be different from the symmetric assumption, since the reinforced concrete slab is connected to the steel element close to the hinge locations, and also due to contact friction between the concrete slab and the steel element. The paper presents the results and conclusions of experimental tests on composite portal eccentrically braced frames and beam-to-column moment-resisting joints, carried out within the CEMSIG Research Centre of the Politehnica University of Timisoara, in order to check the validity of the assumption stated above. Reference steel and composite specimens with and without connectors in the plastic zones have been tested under monotonic and cyclic seismic type loading.