Review: The Direct Strength Method of cold-formed steel member design

The objective of this paper is to provide a review of the development and current progress in the Direct Strength Method for cold-formed steel member design. A brief comparison of the Direct Strength Method with the Effective Width Method is provided. The advantage of methods that integrate computational stability analysis into the design process, such as the Direct Strength Method, is highlighted. The development of the Direct Strength Method for beams and columns, including the reliability of the method is provided. Current and ongoing research to extend the Direct Strength Method is reviewed and complete references provided. The Direct Strength Method was formally adopted in North American cold-formed steel design specifications in 2004 as an alternative to the traditional Effective Width Method. The appendices of this paper provide the Direct Strength Method equations for the design of columns and beams as developed by the author and adopted in the North American Specification.