Transient elevated temperature tests on cold-formed steel channels with non-uniform heating, in Experiments on cold-formed steel lipped channels in compression at elevated temperatures

This project involves a series of experimental investigations aimed at enhancing the understanding of the fire behavior of cold-formed steel (CFS) lipped channel studs under compression. The findings contribute to the development of a performance-based structural fire design framework.

The dataset enables evaluation of the fire performance of CFS members and provides insights into their behavior under uniform and non-uniform heating, as well as under steady-state and transient conditions. These results are valuable for both researchers and structural engineers.

Experiments were conducted on CFS lipped channel studs subjected to elevated temperatures up to 600 °C. The tests included steady-state and transient-state conditions, with both uniform and non-uniform temperature distributions. All experiments were performed in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University using an MTS testing machine and custom-built electric furnaces.

The unique furnaces contained six independently controlled heating zones, allowing precise temperature contorl: including an 100 °C gradient and a constant heating rate. In steady-state tests, specimens were uniformly heated to 300 °C, 400 °C, 500 °C, and 600 °C, and non-uniformly heated to the temperature of 300–400 °C, 400–500 °C, and 500–600 °C, respectively.

In transient tests, the same 100 °C temperature gradient was maintained during non-uniform heating, while axial loads corresponding to 85% and 40% of the ambient-temperature compressive capacity were applied to the studs.