An investigation of the behaviour of cold-formed steel wall-plate system

Cold-formed steel (CFS) wall plate system consists of lipped C-channel (acting as a wall plate), anchor plates (U and L-brackets), screwed and bolted connections. The wall plate system is used in roof structures to resist vertical loading from roof trusses and rafters at the same time ensure that the roof trusses and rafters are properly aligned. Although CFS wall-plate has been widely used locally in Malaysia, no study has been conducted in this area. Therefore the actual capacity and behaviour of the system is still not known. A series of laboratory tests are conducted to study the interaction of the elements in the wall-plate system, and a numerical model is built to facilitate the parametric study. An efficient design is proposed and the results would serve as a guide to the local (Malaysia) construction industry.