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Thin-Walled Structures 44 (2006) 1272–1279


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Light steel framing for residential buildings


Milan Veljkovic, Bernt Johansson
Luleå University of Technology, SE 97187 Luleå, Sweden

Abstract

Building systems with light steel members, gypsum plasterboards and mineral wool have a wide spread use in the US, Australia and
Japan and are gaining market in some European countries. The systems have often load-bearing walls and the floors may be of
lightweight steel profiles or concrete. Such systems are suited for industrial production and can contribute to a more efficient building
process. Examples of components and systems are given in the paper. For low and medium rise buildings it is natural to use the walls as
stabilising for horizontal loads from wind and imperfections. In Sweden and Finland this has been common practice for single-family
timber houses since the 1970s. The paper describes the traditional design model for walls with single-layer gypsum plasterboards and an
extension to double layers, which are needed for fire protection in multi-storey buildings.
r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Light steel framing; Building systems; Thermal studs; Shear walls; Gypsum plasterboards; Design method

1. Introduction and university in which Professor Rolf Baehre, when at the


Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, was the
The construction industry in Sweden is fighting with the leading scientist. The products and systems were so
problem of producing residential buildings that people can successful that they completely took over the market for
afford to live in. Reduced construction costs and more industrial buildings in less than a decade. As part of this
efficient building processes are very much on the agenda work Rolf Baehre also chaired a committee for writing a
together with the restraint of maintained or improved Swedish design code for cold-formed steel structures [3] in
quality. The way forward to these goals is adopting industrial which the senior author of this paper also took active part.
building processes with increased prefabrication. Light steel The result was a modern code of its time and much of its
framing systems based on cold-formed profiles, gypsum content is still state of the art, which can be seen from the
boards and mineral wool fit very well into this trend. fact that it has had a substantial influence on the present
A European research project called ‘‘Dry composite Eurocode 3-1-3. Since, when the pace of development has
aiming at the development of light steel framing systems slowed down but the topic of this paper, light steel framing,
for a dry building method’’ has been concluded 2002 [1] may trigger a new start.
and a follow-up project aiming at dissemination of the
results was finished in 2005 [2]. These projects are the main
basis of this paper with the focus on the Swedish 2. Building systems with cold-formed profiles
contributions.
During the 1970s the Swedish steel industry was very Building systems based on cold-formed steel profiles,
active in developing cold-formed thin-walled steel products gypsum plasterboard and mineral wool is gaining ground
like trapezoidally corrugated sheets, purlins and wall rails in many countries. It started in the US and the inspiration
mainly for industrial building. The development work was came from timber-framed buildings. In the US and also in
a very successful example of co-operation between industry Australia and Japan light steel framing has substantial
shares of the residential market. The most common
Corresponding author. Tel.: +46 920 492387; fax: +46 920 491913. systems have load-bearing walls and the floors may be of
E-mail address: Milan.Veljkovic@ltu.se (M. Veljkovic). lightweight steel profiles or concrete. The load-bearing

0263-8231/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tws.2007.01.006
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studs are lipped channels typically of thickness 1–3 mm. In one example developed by Plannja AB [1] is shown in Fig. 3
the US, it is common to assemble the building on site (stick and Table 1.
building) usually by welding. This system is used for as tall The fire resistance is REI 60, which is sufficient for multi-
buildings as eight storeys. storey buildings according to the Swedish design code and
In Europe, similar systems have been developed but they it is achieved by fire-resistant gypsum boards.
are usually not used for as high buildings as in the US. Fig. The measured sound insulation is very good and it fulfils
1 shows a wall from the UK with C-profiles used as studs. the highest requirements, class A, according to Swedish
The wall has brick cladding in this case but any kind fac- ade standard SS 02 52 67. It is achieved by the combined effects
material can be used. of the plaster boards, mineral wool and the fact that the
In Sweden and Finland, the energy prices are much ceiling hangs in a special acoustic profile. This profile gives
higher than in the US and the climate is quite cold. This a very flexible connection between the floor joists and the
means that energy conservation is an important concern. In ceiling. For acoustic reasons the floor should be simply
order to reduce the cold bridge created by the steel, supported preferably as shown in Fig. 3 hanging on the
thermally efficient studs with slotted webs have been wall rather than sitting on it, which avoids flanking
developed, see Fig. 2. They are used in exterior walls transmission.
together with mineral wool filling the space between the This floor can be used up to 7 m span and for long spans
studs and sometimes an additional continuous layer on the it is always the serviceability criteria that govern. The
outside as shown in Fig. 1. The studs are usually 170 or important criteria concern the dynamic behaviour particu-
200 mm deep, which gives a U-value of approximately larly the effects of walking persons. The dynamic
0.25 W/m2 K without outside insulation. This is similar behaviour of lightweight floors has been studied by several
to walls with timber studs. With outside insulation the researcher and several criteria have been proposed. The
U-value can be reduced to below 0.2 W/m2 K. dynamic criteria applied in the Dry composite project were
This kind of studs can be used in curtain walls and also the following. One is that the fundamental frequency
in load-bearing walls up to three or four storeys. The should exceed 8 Hz for self-weight and an imposed load of
slotting of the web reduced the resistance of the stud 0.3 kN/m2. This can be transformed to a requirement that
especially for shear. Design methods for slotted studs have the deflection should be less than 5 mm. Another criterion
been developed but they are not yet codified. aiming at an acceptable dynamic behaviour is a limitation
Lightweight floors exist in many shapes and sizes. They of the deflection caused by a concentrated load of
are a bit more difficult to develop because of the many and 1 kN–1 mm. It should be noted that the perception of
strict functional requirements. Several solutions were vibrations is very individual and the criteria stated here
studied and tested within the project Dry composite and gives no guarantee that all tenants are satisfied.

Fig. 1. Load-bearing wall with C-profiles from UK [1].


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the investments volumes are needed. It looks like the


time has come now in Sweden as the production of
residential buildings is steadily increasing from a quite low
level.
A small step in direction towards prefabrication is shown
in Fig. 4 where an element of a curtain wall is lifted in
place. The wall element includes the frame, outside gypsum
board and windows. The insulation and inside board is put
in place at site to make a traditional installation of services
possible.
A much greater step is seen in Fig. 5 showing the erection
of a prefabricated volume [4]. The system is called Open
House and it consists of prefabricated light steel modules
supported by a steel frame that allows buildings up to eight
storeys. The modules are produced in a factory in southern
Sweden and have services built in and finished inside
surfaces. The fac- ade and the shape of the building can be
chosen by the architect but the plan layout has some
restrictions.
Fig. 2. Slotted studs and tracks with improved thermal performance for
use in exterior walls.
Recently the second largest construction company in
Sweden, NCC AB, presented their industrialised building
system [5]. It goes very far in prefabrication and it is a
hybrid system with light steel floors and concrete walls. The
components are flat but complete with services, doors,
windows and even kitchen cupboards. The building is
erected in a mobile weather protection that allows
buildings with a general shape and height up to eight
storeys. It is stated that this system cuts half the
construction time and moves 90% of the work to the
factory. The last figure is probably excluding the founda-
tion works, which is done with conventional methods. The
system has required a big investment and it is promising to
see that a construction company has taken on to develop
the whole building as a product instead of buying pieces
from sub-contractors.

3. Stabilisation of buildings with shear walls

3.1. Background

Fig. 3. Support of lightweight floor described in Table 1. One part of the Dry Composite Project was the
stabilisation of buildings with shear walls made of steel
profiles and gypsum plasterboards. The idea of using
The addition of a damping device was also studied in the gypsum plasterboards as a structural material is not
Dry composite project. This was introduced as a resilient commonly accepted yet and in order to promote the idea
material acting in shear in the suspension of the ceiling. the results concerning stabilisation will be described in
Both measurements and subjective judgements indicated an some detail.
improvement of the dynamic properties. The improvement The studs in a load-bearing wall need support from the
was; however, not so significant and the idea needs further gypsum plasterboard in order to avoid buckling in the
development. lateral direction, which puts a requirement on the fixing of
The production methods of light steel framing compo- the gypsum plasterboards. This question has been exam-
nents vary from stick building to modular construction. ined experimentally and numerical and results are included
The stick building method has an advantage of being in the American specification AISI (1996) [6] and in
flexible and it does not require so much planning. How- Australian standard AS 4600 (1996) [7]. This actually
ever, the potential of improving the construction process means that the gypsum plasterboards have a structural
lies in prefabrication of components with industrial function but it is not used for taking active loads in the US.
methods. This requires investments and in order to justify The praxis is to use plywood or oriented strand boards for
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Table 1
Properties of one light-weight floor [2]

Fire class

1. Plastic carpet 2  GF15 REI60


2. 2  Gypsum board GN 13 Acoustic properties
3. Trapezoidal sheeting P45/0.72 Airborne sound insulation
4. 200–350 mm C-profile (depending on span) Rw 65.2 dB
5. Mineral wool 165 mm Rw+C50–3150 61.2 dB
6. Acoustic profile c450 Impact sound level
7. 2  Gypsum board GN 13 or GF15 Ln,w 46.6 dB
The area of the tested floor was 3  3.6 m2 Ln,w+CI, 50–2500 49.2 dB

Fig. 5. Volume module from Open House company in Sweden.

The idea of utilising a gypsum plasterboard for stabilis-


ing a building is rather old for timber houses and it was
recognised in the Swedish Building Regulations already
1975 [8]. It started with single-family houses in which one-
layer gypsum plasterboards are used. A design method for
single-layer gypsum plasterboards was developed by
Källsner [9] and Åkerlund [10] and this is still used in
Sweden. The method can also be used for walls with steel
Fig. 4. Semi-prefabricated curtain wall being lift in place.
studs, as the difference is mainly that the fixings with
screws are stronger in steel studs.
that purpose. It would however be natural to take the next The next step is to use gypsum plasterboard walls
step and use the gypsum plasterboards in a shear wall for for stabilising multi-storey buildings, which raises some
stabilising the building. new questions. The first is that the stabilising system has
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to satisfy requirements on fire resistance, usually R60. Rotation of the frame is around the bottom joint g, while
This normally means that there has to be two layers of the inner plasterboard and outer plasterboard rotate
gypsum plasterboard on the side exposed to fire. This around the centre of rotation of the fasteners, j and c,
requirement also applies to load-bearing walls, whether respectively. Relative displacement of the plasterboards
they are stabilising or not. Shear walls with double gypsum to the frame causes a force on the fastener. The
plasterboards have been analysed in [1] as well as an displacement consists of two components, which are
improvement of the traditional design method for single- related to the corresponding forces by the tangent stiffness
layer walls. This concerned considering the direction of the fastener. Terms of the stiffness matrix for the whole
of the screw force in relation to the edge of the wall are derived considering force distribution on the
plasterboard. fasteners.
The flexural stiffness of the studs for bending in
3.2. General assumptions for elastic design of shear walls the plane of the wall is quite small but not completely
negligible. From numerical simulations it has been
The design model from [1] is based on the same concluded that an effective length of 200 mm at each
assumptions for single-layer gypsum plasterboard and end of the stud transfer transverse forces between the
double-layers gypsum plasterboard. The assumptions used stud and the inner gypsum plasterboard. Because of
for the design model are: limitations of space for this paper only results are
The core consists of a frame made of axially rigid given for some specific patterns of fixing. For more
elements that are pinned to each other and connected with information about the derivation of the design model,
floor and ceiling. The wall should have hold-down devices see [1].
at both ends unless the dead load is sufficient for Mechanical properties for screws 3.5  45 in different
equilibrium. boards fastened to a steel studs with nominal thickness
The plasterboards are rigid and over strength compared not less than 1.2 mm can be found in Table 2. The strength
to the fixing. The boards are assembled such that they are is given as indicative characteristic strength for boards
neither connected to each other nor to adjacent elements indoors in a heated building with normal humidity. Values
(floor or ceiling). for design should be determined by testing of the actual
Deformations are small compared with the height and combination of materials. For definition of force directions
width of the wall element. see Fig. 7, where Fvb is the total force and Fve is the
Connectors have a linear elastic behaviour, uniformly component perpendicular to the edge. The large difference
smeared along the edges. between the resistance to edge failure and bearing failure
Deformations of the shear wall components, based justifies that two different checks are done in a general
on aforementioned assumptions, are shown in Fig. 6. case. The resistance to edge failure is valid for an edge
distance of 15 mm. The load is assumed to be short
term like wind load. The design strength is obtained by
γ
division with an appropriate partial safety factor with a
ϕ

ψ Table 2
Characteristic strength and stiffness for screws 3.5  45 in different
plasterboards fixed to 1.2 mm steel studs

Board Fvb (kN) Fve (kN) k1 (MN/m) Min spacing


(mm)

Gyproc GN 13 0.60 0.40 0.9 70


Gyproc GF 15 0.90 0.55 1.0 90
η

h ξ
a b
Fvb
Fve F
Fvb

b
u u

Fig. 6. Rotation of the wall components, centre of rotation of fasteners Fig. 7. Brittle and ductile failure mode in the plasterboard: (a) edge failure
coincides here with the centre of gravity of the plasterboards. causing tear out and (b) bearing failure causing a slot.
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recommended value of the second stud from the end takes some force but how
much depends on the length of the wall.
gm ¼ 1:25.
The stiffness values k1 given in Table 2 are the tangent 3.3. Walls with a single layer of boards
stiffness of the fastener between the frame and the inner
board. For walls with double boards, the screws connecting In order to simplify the presentation of results a
the outer board to the inner was in [1] assumed to have fixed screw pattern according to Fig. 8 is assumed. The
strength and stiffness equal to one-third of the values in screw spacing is c around all edges and 2c (max 300 mm)
Table 2. Further, Table 2 gives minimum distances between in the middle. Table 3 gives constants with which the
fasteners, which are intended to prevent introducing so required spacing between screws can be calculated with
high shear forces that the board will break. regard to bearing resistance (1), resistance to edge failure
For the analysis of the distribution of the horizontal load (2) and with regard to maximum deformation (3). At
to the active shear walls it is assumed that stiffness is the ends of the wall the same screw spacing can be used
proportionate to the length of the wall. This means for a even if the last board has to be cut to fit a narrower stud
symmetric arrangement of walls that the shear flow in the spacing.
walls is found as the applied horizontal load divided by the Screw spacing cb with respect to design bearing
sum of the lengths of the active walls. For an unsymme- resistance Fvbd.
trical situation the distribution forces has to be calculated
by elastic theory. The floors are usually considered as rigid cb ¼ Zb F vbd =V d . (1)
in such an analysis. Screw spacing ce with respect to design resistance to edge
The equilibrium of the wall requires vertical reactions in failure Fved
the ends of the wall. The simple assumption that those
ce ¼ Ze F ved =V d . (2)
reactions are taken by the outer studs is conservative. Also
Screw spacing cf with respect to acceptable horizontal
deformation fSLS between top and bottom track for shear
C mm force VSLS with stiffness k1 per screw
sf ¼ Zf k1 ðf SLS  V SLS h=ðGtÞÞ=V SLS , (3)
where h is the height of wall, G the shear modulus of the
gypsum plasterboard, t the thickness of gypsum plaster-
C mm
board.
With screws and boards according to Table 2 the
resistance with respect to edge failure is not governing.
The shear modulus varies for different gypsum plaster-
2∗c
boards but a typical value is 1000 MPa.
<300

3.4. Walls with double boards

The first layer of boards is assumed to be screwed


with spacing c along both vertical edges. The outer layer
of boards is offset half a board width and screwed
with spacing c mm to the tracks and with 2c (max
300 mm) along the vertical edges and in the middle (Fig. 9).
Fig. 8. Assumed screw spacing in wall with single board. Table 4 gives constants with which the required spacing

Table 3
Coefficients for calculating screw spacing for a shear wall with a single layer of gypsum plasterboards

Non-dimensional coefficient Height of the wall (mm)

2400 2700 3000

Stud spacing (mm) Stud spacing (mm) Stud spacing (mm)

450 600 450 600 450 600

Zb 0.89 0.88 0.89 0.88 0.88 0.87


Ze 1.13 1.17 1.11 1.15 1.10 1.13
Zf 0.164 0.204 0.148 0.185 0.135 0.170
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between screws can be calculated with regard to 3.5. Walls with openings
bearing resistance, resistance to edge failure and with
regard to maximum deformation with formulae (1)–(3). According to the established procedure used in design
When applying (3) the thickness t should be taken of timber frames for a case of discontinuous wall, parts
as the thickness of the inner board plus 25% of the that contain openings for windows or doors are neglected
thickness of the outer board. The strength of screws in the and only full height parts of the walls are considered
outer layer may be assumed to be at least 1/3 of the as active.
strength of screws connecting the inner layer to studs. With An attempt was made in [11] to improve the design
a screw pattern according to Fig. 5 the resistance of the model walls with openings. The major change is caused
screws in the outer layer will be sufficient and it need not by the fact that plasterboards that contain openings
be checked. rotate around the centre of rotation of fasteners, see
Fig. 10, rotations drawn by dotted lines. Plaster-
boards where the centre of gravity coincides with the
First layer centre of rotation of fasteners are shown by solid lines.
Additionally, a contribution of the plasterboards above
the opening to the stiffness of wall is taken into account
C mm considering the actual geometry and the fastener stiffness.
The largest effect of considering this is a substantial
reduction of the uplift in the corners. For the analysis
of walls with openings the basic theory has to be applied
as the number of parameters makes simplified design
tables impractical.

Second layer C mm

2∗c <300

2∗c
<300

Fig. 10. Rotation of the plasterboards when accounting for effect of the
Fig. 9. Screw spacing in wall with double boards. opening.

Table 4
Coefficients for calculating screw spacing for a shear wall with double gypsum plasterboards

Non-dimensional coefficient Height of the wall (mm)

2400 2700 3000

Stud spacing (mm) Stud spacing (mm) Stud spacing (mm)

450 600 450 600 450 600

Zb 1.10 1.07 1.10 1.06 1.09 1.06


Ze 1.55 1.42 1.53 1.43 1.51 1.44
Zf 0.212 0.257 0.192 0.236 0.176 0.218
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4. Conclusions References

 Light steel framing systems can be designed to fulfil high [1] Strömberg J, co-ordinator. Development of dry composite construc-
tions systems based on steel in residential applications. European
functional requirements for residential buildings and are
Commission report, EUR 10375 EN, 2002.
well suited for industrial production. They are therefore [2] Kesti J, co-ordinator. RFS-C2-04036, to be published as European
a natural part of an industrial building process. Commission report.
 Thermal studs and rails with slotted webs improve the [3] Tunnplåtsnorm 79 (Swedish design code for cold formed steel
heath insulation of exterior walls substantially com- structures, in Swedish). Svensk Byggtjänst, 1980, ISBN:91-7332-0714.
pared to studs with solid webs. They can be used in [4] /http://www.openhouse.se/S.
[5] /http://www.ncc.se/S.
curtain walls as well as load-bearing walls. [6] American Iron and Steel Institute. Specification for the design of
 Gypsum plasterboard walls can efficiently and safely be cold-formed steel structural members. Washington: American Iron
used for stabilising low and medium rise buildings. In and Steel Institute; 1996.
the first place load-bearing walls should be used for [7] AS 4600 Standards Australia (SA). AS 4600, Cold-formed steel
stabilisation because it simplifies the detailing and they structures. Sydney: Standards Australia; 1996.
[8] SBN 1975. Swedish building regulations. Statens Planverk, 1975.
have the same required fire resistance. [9] Källsner B. Boards as wind bracing elements in wood framed walls.
 Simple design methods expressed as screw spacing Wood technology report 56. Stockholm: Swedish Institute of Wood
depending on the shear flow in the wall has been Technology; 1984.
presented for single-layer and double-layer walls. This [10] Åkerlund S. Simple structural model for boards attached to wood
frames. Bygg&Teknik, No. 1 1984 [in Swedish].
method is based on elastic theory and comparisons with
[11] Cremer M. Stabilisation of light-weight walls with double plaster-
tests and FEA show that it is quite conservative. The boards. Master’s thesis, Luleå University of Technology, 2004, 223
potential for improvement may however be limited by CIV.
SLS requirements.

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