Buckling behavior of cold-formed C/Z-section purlins incorporating the effects of diaphragm and the screw location

This article presents a study on the impact of the screw location and the diaphragm effects on the buckling behavior of the simply supported C/Z-section purlins under wind uplift loadings. The diaphragm effects provided by the sheeting and the warping-torsional effect induced by load eccentricity are taken into account in the differential equations of the nonlinear twisting flexural-torsional model. The biaxial bending moments, bi-moments, as well as the flexural-torsional buckling load of the purlin can be numerically obtained with the proposed model. The global, local, and distortional buckling interaction behavior and the limit states capacities are formulated based on the modified Direct Strength Method. The effects of both the restraints provided by the sheeting and impact of the screw location on the mechanical performance of the purlins are evaluated with the proposed method. The relationship between the buckling load and rotational restraint stiffness is also provided. The proposed methodology will contribute to the assessment of buckling capacity of purlin-sheeting systems.