EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ON AXIAL COMPＲESSION BEHAVIOR OF NEW-TYPE OF COLD-FORMED THIN-WALL STEEL FRAMING WALL STUDS

A new-type of light-weight wall，in which polystyrene foam plates are placed inside the cold-formed thinwall steel frame and light thermal insulation material is sprayed outside the frame of the wall，was presented． Through the full-scale tests of one cold-formed thin-wall steel stud without sheathing and two new-type of cold-formed thin-wall steel framing wall studs under axial loading，the failure process，the bearing capacity and the failure mode were analyzed． The calculated value determined by the code and experimental data of this test were compared． The results show that the failure mode of the cold-formed thin-wall steel stud without sheathing is global buckling and that of the new-type of wall stud is local compressed yielding on the top of the stud． The bearing capacity of the new-type of wall stud is greatly increased owing to the support of thermal insulation material． The calculated values of the ultimate bearing capacity by the formula of calculating about strength and stability of axial compressive members in the code agree well with the experimental ultimate bearing loadings．