ANALYSIS OF THE BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT STEEL FRAME METAL PROFILES CORNER TYPE

Abstract

Civil engineering has always played an important role in society, providing the economic development necessary to meet existing demands to improve the population's quality of life. In this way, technological development is fundamental for the continuous advancement of this sector, resulting in better results. The Light Steel Frame – LSF is an innovation in light steel structure and has been a widespread construction method in several countries, presenting numerous advantages over traditional methods. Full understanding of the limitations of the construction elements required in this system is essential, as failures may occur in the case of inappropriate use. Based on the above, the objective of this work was to evaluate the mechanical properties that govern the behavior of angle profiles, manufactured and sold by the company Isoeste Metálica, located in the city of Anápolis-GO, in terms of load and rupture mechanism of the analyzed profile. In this sense, the tests were carried out at the company's headquarters, where a structure was set up with some auxiliary devices, such as: Load applicator, load cell, load transmitter and supports. Throughout the test, 16 angle profiles were tested and divided into two groups, L60x30x1.25mm – ZAR400 and L90x30x2.30mm – ZAR400, which were applied to the connections between the profiles of the ISOTELHADO system, with verification being carried out between flanges and support structure and connections between the purlins and the chords. In this way, each profile was subjected to a series of loads to obtain its breaking load. With the results, it was possible to observe that the profiles with a thickness of 1.25 mm went through plastic deformation stages in their rupture mechanism in all cases until they reached their collapse through the pulling out of screws, while the profiles with a thickness of 2.30 mm showed that the models that suffered collapse, due to screws being pulled out, failed even before obtaining large deformations. Although the results achieved were satisfactory, according to the company, it was not possible to identify the type of effort that caused the failure of the components, making it necessary, for future tests, to have greater technological control during the tests, in order to reduce the uncertainties.