The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) Standards Council has selected four research proposals for its Small Project Fellowship Program.
Launched last year, the program identifies and provides funding for research projects that will make an impact on the reliability, performance, and cost-effectiveness of cold-formed steel (CFS) framing products. AISI’s standards development committees, industry stakeholders, academics, and students collaborate on short-term, highly focused, and mutually beneficial projects.
“The research that was conducted last year will generate significant results in terms of advancing our knowledge and establishing improved design methods for a variety of CFS applications,” said Jay Larson, managing director of AISI’s Construction Technical Program.
This year’s winning research proposals include:
- “Tranverse Fillet Weld for Steels Greater Than 0.10 Inches,” by Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Maryland), whose objective is to eliminate discontinuity in the equations and reduce conservatism in the strength calculation;
- “Arc Spot Welds—Update of Provision,” by University of Florida (Gainsville), whose objective is to extend the range of total thickness beyond 3.8 mm (0.15 in.) and enable more cost-effective construction;
- “Advancing Building Information Modeling (BIM) for Cold-formed Steel Structures,” by University of North Texas (Denton), whose objective is to improve BIM capabilities for these structural materials; and
- “Determination of Effective Standoff of Purlin-to-Sheathing Connections,” by Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Virginia), whose objective is to develop a better understanding of the impact of the effective standoff of sheathing in providing lateral support to purlins and girts with one flange attached to the sheathing.
