Buckling resistance of axially loaded cold-formed steel columns

•Experimental research on the buckling resistance of cold-formed steel columns.•Results were compared against the design predictions of EN1993-1-3:2004.•For pin-ended lipped channel columns the agreement is very good.•For fix-ended columns the design predictions may be conservative.•For built-up columns the design predictions are in some extent unsafe.

This paper reports an experimental campaign on the buckling behaviour of compressed single and built-up cold-formed steel columns. Four types of cross-sections were tested, namely, one single, one open built-up and two closed built-up, considering two end-support conditions, pin-ended and fix-ended. The obtained results were compared with the design predictions of EN1993-1-3:2004 and AISI S100-07. For pin-ended lipped channel columns the design predictions are in good agreement with the experimental results, however for the fix-ended columns the predictions may be conservative. For built-up columns was found that increasing the number of profiles may lead to unsafe design predictions.