Numerical Study on Structural Performance of Polyurethane Foam-Filled Built-Up Cold-Formed Steel Members

Cold-formed steel (CFS) built-up sections have over time, become more preferred over single CFS sections due to the substantial improvements they offer to the overall structural performance. CFS is widely used in pre-engineered buildings (PEB) as cladding and roof members due to its lightweight and thermal properties. Introducing CFS with Polyurethane foam (PUF) improves thermal performance and structural behaviour when compared to the same configuration of conventional built-up sections. In the existing literature, the combination of CFS and PUF is not thoroughly explored or discussed. In this study, numerical investigations using the commercially available finite element (FE) package ABAQUS have been carried out on a bare frame with and without PUF. The objective of the study is to analyse the difference in the load-carrying capacities and the failure pattern subjected to static loads. The results are compared with the available experimental and analytical studies and are found to be in good agreement.