Structural performance of cold-formed steel cross-arm structure at elevated temperature

Abstract

Nowadays, cross-arm truss structures made by cold-formed steel sections are used in power distribution networks. Although cold-formed steel structures have some advantages such as being lightweight and fast operation, they suffer from relatively low resistance against heat. This paper investigates the effect of elevated temperature on structural performance of cross-arm cold-formed steel structure based on experimental studies and additional numerical modeling. Furthermore, temperature-time curves of the structures were compared against thermal loading standards ISO834 and ASTM E119. For this purpose, the temperature-rotation curve of the structures and the effect of the initial vertical load before thermal loading on this curve were investigated. Also, temperature-rotation curves obtained in the laboratory as well as numerical modeling were studied and compared against each other. © 2023, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology.