Finite Element Analysis of Cold-formed Steel Z- Shape Purlin Section

Z-shape sections are commonly used as purlin in industrial structures. This paper reports the load carrying capacity of Z-Shape purlin members by varying the stiffener configuration. The three types of stiffeners configurations have been studied namely, horizontally stiffened purlin, vertically stiffened purlin, and purlin with holes along the neutral axis. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) using ABAQUS were conducted to know the load carrying capacity. Finally, the percentage of increase in the ultimate load carrying capacity of the horizontally stiffened purlin vertically stiffened purlin, and purlin with holes obtained from the FEA software was compared to the unstiffened purlin. From the analytical study, it was observed that the maximum load carrying capacity is obtained in the purlin with holes.