Influence of Uplift Load on Torsional Restraint Provided to Steel Thin-Walled Purlins by Sandwich Panels

The paper focuses on the experimental verification of the torsional restraint provided to steel purlins of thin-walled cold-formed cross-sections by adjacent sandwich panels. For the first series of tests a simple test set-up with no external load applied to the surface of the panel was utilized. The second series comprises tests of the torsional restraint provided to steel purlins by sandwich panels under uplift load. A complex test set-up taking into account the external load applied to the surfaces of the panels was used. The results of both test approaches are compared and the influence of the uplift load on the torsional restraint for the tested specimens is evaluated.