Metal deck bucking due to compression from lateral load transfer from wall studs?
Metal deck bucking due to compression from lateral load transfer from wall studs?
(OP)
Does anyone here know how to calculate the buckling capacity of a metal deck due to an in-plane compression load?
I am thinking about the common scenario where lateral load on wall studs is transferred along the roof edge thru the connection of the metal roof deck to the edge beam. For typical floor-to-floor heights and beam/joist spacings, we assume that the load gets transferred without locally failing the deck in the compression, but there must be some limit. For example, what if the wall studs are spanning >25' with a large parapet and the beam spacing on the roof is >10'. The force transferred becomes much more significant and the larger beam spacing increases the "unbraced length" of the deck. I start to get concerned about the deck capacity.
Has anyone found a way to check this?
I am thinking about the common scenario where lateral load on wall studs is transferred along the roof edge thru the connection of the metal roof deck to the edge beam. For typical floor-to-floor heights and beam/joist spacings, we assume that the load gets transferred without locally failing the deck in the compression, but there must be some limit. For example, what if the wall studs are spanning >25' with a large parapet and the beam spacing on the roof is >10'. The force transferred becomes much more significant and the larger beam spacing increases the "unbraced length" of the deck. I start to get concerned about the deck capacity.
Has anyone found a way to check this?






RE: Metal deck bucking due to compression from lateral load transfer from wall studs?
You MIGHT investigate THIS document by Helwig and Frank. It discusses in-plane forces and I've used it extensively for bracing large span beams. The geometry of that fluted system is very strong (see fluted pillar water towers), and we design those somewhat regularly where I work. It would still be very interesting to see what sort of capacity the decking would have in the situation you're proposing.
RE: Metal deck bucking due to compression from lateral load transfer from wall studs?
Despite this, I've always felt uneasy about using gage metal to resist lateral loads from a building wall. We typically add steel struts (channels) within the flutes and welded to the next interior joist, allowing the deck to also weld/screw to the struts to soften the loading on the deck and reduce the non-redundancy of the deck taking everything.
RE: Metal deck bucking due to compression from lateral load transfer from wall studs?
Yes you will get very high loads if you check the section proprieties, this however does not that into account the failure of the fastener at the seams. Depending on the deck you can get about 1 kip per foot in the strong direction
RE: Metal deck bucking due to compression from lateral load transfer from wall studs?
Steeltools has a spreadsheet for determining the axial capacity of vulcraft deck, search for Roofdeck.
RE: Metal deck bucking due to compression from lateral load transfer from wall studs?
RE: Metal deck bucking due to compression from lateral load transfer from wall studs?
EIT
www.HowToEngineer.com
RE: Metal deck bucking due to compression from lateral load transfer from wall studs?
I'm curious about your detail JAE. It sounds like it's a channel with ~1.5" flanges laid flat beneath the deck. Is that correct? Do you take much flack from contractors over installation difficulties? I've tried to do something similar for other reasons in the past and received a far bit of push back. The channels go in after the deck is installed, right?
RE: Metal deck bucking due to compression from lateral load transfer from wall studs?
RE: Metal deck bucking due to compression from lateral load transfer from wall studs?