Effects of stiffeners on the capacities of cold-formed steel channel members

This paper investigates the effects of stiffeners on the compressive and flexural capacities of cold-formed steel channel members. Stiffeners are added on the web of the channel section to form a new section called SupaCee. This new section is shown to be more innovative and stable than the traditional channel section. The structural advantages of this new section are investigated by comparing the capacities of SupaCee and channel members under compression and bending. The capacities are determined by using the direct strength method (DSM) according to AS/NZS 4600:2018 with the support of THIN-WALL-2, a buckling analysis program. It was found that the stiffeners are effective for small section dimensions and thicknesses, but become ineffective for large section dimensions.