Direct strength method of design for shear including sections with longitudinal web stiffeners

• The Semi-Analytical Finite Strip Method (SAFSM) is used for the analyses.
• Elastic buckling of whole channel sections in shear including longitudinal stiffeners is studied.
• Direct Strength Method (DSM) of design for shear is summarised.
• A Finite Element Model (FEM) for pure shear strength is developed.
• Shear buckling strengths of sections with longitudinal stiffeners are compared with the DSM strength equations.

The paper describes the recently balloted Direct Strength Method (DSM) of design for shear of the North American Specification for Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members NAS S100. The method requires the shear buckling load Vcr of the complete section to be computed. Shear buckling examples of channel sections in pure shear using both the semi-analytical and spline finite strip buckling analyses are presented. Recent work on the buckling and strength of channel sections in pure shear with rectangular and triangular web stiffeners is also described.