Cold construction is a pre-designed construction system of steel frames for walls, floors and ceilings.
Cold-formed steel (CFS)
is a durable, reliable and cost-effective alternative for low and medium rise construction projects. It's also an easier, cheaper and more environmentally friendly material than wood and concrete. The lack of a suitable pre-designed beam-column connection type in CFS structures with the closed section is the main cause that limits development and application in the real application.Ceilings built with CFS frames can last 40 to 50 years longer than roofs built with wood (which last an average of 15 years). When working with CFS, building loads are designed from the top down, and durable beams and posts require little additional training, less time, and fewer tools and materials to install properly than with other frame materials. These sections are cold molded from steel sheets, strips, coils, plates or flat bars in roll forming machines, press brakes (mechanical presses) or bending processes. With the incorporation of North American standards for cold-formed steel structures from the American Iron and Steel Institute into the International Building Codes of the International Code Council, builders and designers can find comprehensive provisions for steel.
Cold-formed steel (CFS) structures have unique advantages over other steel structures, including their high strength, light weight, construction efficiency, a comfortable construction process, and numerous types of corded construction. Cold-formed steel also reduces insurance costs for builders and homeowners by helping to reduce fire risk. Because cold-formed steel (CFS) structures are lightweight, extremely strong, fireproof and relatively easy to install, they have dominated the market for load-bearing interior partitions in commercial construction. In addition to applying their current skills to a new set of frame components, for example, C-section steel studs instead of wooden posts; individual molded steel rails instead of upper and lower wood plates; and hexagonal-head, flat and bugle screws for framing, as well as pins (nails for steel connections), framers only need to spend a little time mastering the use of a small number of new tools and fasteners.
Cold-formed steel is widely used in the construction industry, both commercial and residential, for structural or non-structural objects such as columns, beams, joists, uprights, floor covers, built sections, and other components, particularly in the form of thin-gauge sheets. For example, CFS doesn't shrink or split, doesn't absorb moisture, and resists deformation, termites, and fire. Limited to the structural assembly method, many rivets and screws were needed to connect C, Z, L, and U-shaped steel components in CFS frame structures, resulting in high steel consumption and construction uncomfortable. Chen and his team members have investigated the compressive axial property of cold-formed C-shaped steel with mesh holes using experimental and numerical methods.
Cold-formed steel structures are used around the world, but in North America they are commonly designed and constructed in accordance with standards set by the American Iron and Steel Institute and have been used effectively in construction projects more than 10 floors high.