Numerical Modeling of CFS Buildings

Thu, 01 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This research thread develops and validates numerical models that capture the nonlinear behavior of cold-formed steel (CFS) buildings. The different approaches employ zero-length OpenSees elements with calibrated pinching4 material behavior, rigid or discretized diaphragm formulations. Calibration of components is based on data from CFS-NHERI wall-line, CFS-HUD and CFS-NHERI shake-table tests among other sources. backbone curves and degrading hysteresis rules The effort focuses on:

Translating full-scale test observations into numerical model of buildings explicitly considering shear walls, gravity walls, and different tie-down details.
Enabling performance-based design through analyses using service-level and MCE-level input motions to collapse assessment.

Reusable modular scripts support engineers designing next-generation CFS structures.

Funding: National Science Foundation (NSF) CMMI Awards #1663569 and #1663348, Collaborative Research: Seismic Resiliency of Repetitively Framed Mid-Rise Cold-Formed Steel Buildings.

Publications

[Journal Articles] [Conference Papers] [Presentations & Posters] [Theses]

Journal Articles

(J8)

Z. Zhang , A. Singh , M. S. Speicher , K. D. Peterman , T. C. Hutchinson , B. W. Schafer (2026). Predicted Lateral Response of Finished Cold-formed Steel Framed Wall-lines with Steel Sheet Sheathed Shear Walls. (In Preparation)

(J7)

Z. Zhang , A. Singh , M. S. Speicher , K. D. Peterman , T. C. Hutchinson , B. W. Schafer (2025). Modeling Cold-formed Steel Framed Wall-lines with Steel Sheet Sheathed Shear Walls. Thin-Walled Structures, 214, 113408

DOI

(J6)

A. Singh , Z. Zhang , X. Wang , B. W. Schafer , T. C. Hutchinson (2025). Practice-oriented Numerical Model for Seismic Response of Cold-formed Steel-framed Mid-rise Buildings. Engineering Structures, 319, 118833

DOI

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Conference Papers

(C28)

M. M. Eladly , Z. Zhang , J. Zhang , A. Singh , M. S. Speicher , T. C. Hutchinson , B. W. Schafer (2026, September). Pre-Test Evaluation of Ground Motion Sequence Effects on a Ten-Story Cold-Formed Steel Framed Building. Proceedings of the 11th European Scientific Conference on Steel and Composite Structures (Eurosteel 2026), Cracow, Poland.

DOI

(C24)

M. M. Eladly , Z. Zhang , J. Zhang , A. Singh , T. C. Hutchinson , B. W. Schafer (2026, July). Pre-Test Assessment of a Ten-Story Cold-Formed Steel-framed Building under MCEᵣ-Level Ground Motions. Proceedings of the 13th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Portland, OR.

Source

(C19)

M. M. Eladly , Z. Zhang , J. Zhang , A. Singh , M. S. Speicher , T. C. Hutchinson , B. W. Schafer (2026, March). Pre-Test High-Fidelity Numerical Modeling of a Ten-Story Cold-Formed Steel Framed Building under Seismic Loading. Proceedings of the 8th Residential Building Design & Construction Conference, Pennsylvania Housing Research Center, State College, PA.

Source

(C16)

J. Zhang , S. Sorosh , A. Singh , B. W. Schafer , T. C. Hutchinson (2026, January). Evolution of Modal Characteristics and Model Comparison for a 10-Story Cold-Formed Steel Framed Building under Seismic Excitation. Proceedings of the International Modal Analysis Conference (IMAC) XLIV, Palm Springs, CA.

Source

(C15)

M. M. Eladly , Z. Zhang , A. Singh , J. Zhang , T. C. Hutchinson , B. W. Schafer (2025, April). Stability assumptions in numerical modeling of cold-formed steel-framed buildings under seismic loading. Proceedings of the Annual Stability Conference Structural Stability Research Council 2025, Louisville, KY.

Source

(C13)

J. Zhang , A. Singh , M. M. Eladly , B. W. Schafer , T. C. Hutchinson (2024, July). Pre-test Numerical Modeling of the CFS-NHERI 10-Story Capstone Building. 18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Milan, Italy.

Source

(C10)

J. Zhang , A. Singh , T. C. Hutchinson , X. Wang (2022, October). Seismic Analysis of the 10-Story CFS-NHERI Building. Proceedings of the Cold-Formed Steel Research Consortium Colloquium.

Source

(C9)

Z. Zhang , M. S. Speicher , A. Singh , T. C. Hutchinson , B. W. Schafer (2022, October). Effects of Modeling Decisions on the Lateral Performance of Cold-Formed Steel Framed Walls. Proceedings of the Cold-Formed Steel Research Consortium Colloquium.

Source

(C7)

Z. Zhang , M. S. Speicher , A. Singh , T. C. Hutchinson , B. W. Schafer (2022, July). Impact of detailing on the lateral performance of cold-formed steel framed walls. Proceedings of the 12th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Salt Lake City, UT.

Source

(C2)

A. Singh , T. C. Hutchinson (2018, November). Finite Element Modeling and Validation of Steel Sheathed Cold-Formed Steel Framed Shear Walls. CCFSS Proceedings of International Specialty Conference on Cold-Formed Steel Structures. 5, St. Louis, MO.

Source Slides

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Presentations & Posters

(P7)

J. Zhang , A. Singh , T. C. Hutchinson (2023, April). Numerical Investigation of the Response of a Mid-rise Cold-Formed Steel Building under the Türkiye/Syria Earthquake Sequence Scenario. 2023 EERI Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.

Poster

(P6)

A. Singh (2022, May). Finite Element Modeling and Validation of the CFS-HUD 6-story Test Building. Cold-Formed Steel Research Consortium Summer Symposium.

Slides

(P1)

Z. Zhang , F. Derveni , A. Singh , X. Wang , H. Castaneda , S. Torabian , K. D. Peterman , T. C. Hutchinson , B. W. Schafer (2020, March). Simulation of Cold-Formed Steel Framed Shear Walls for Buildings: Efforts within CFS-NHERI. 2020 National Earthquake Conference, San Diego, CA.

Poster

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