Experimental investigations on built-up cold-formed steel beams connected by resistance spot welding

The WELLFORMED research project, ongoing at the CEMSIG Research Center of the Politehnica University of Timisoara, proposes to study a new technological solution for built-up beams made of corrugated steel sheets for the web and thin-walled cold-formed steel profiles for the flanges, connected by resistance spot welding. Within the research project, the experimental work includes tensile-shear tests on the lap joint spot-welded specimens, were different combinations of steel sheets with various thicknesses were tested and, tests on full scale beams in bending. The study intends to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed solutions, to assess their performance and to enlarge the knowledge by using numerical simulations for the optimization of the current solution and to define the limits of the solution’s applicability.