US Egypt Cooperative Research: Use of Cold-Formed Steel in Residential Housing

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Abstract

1103904 This project supports a cooperative research project by Dr. Benjamin Schafer at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland and Dr. Metwally Abu-Hamd of Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. They plan to study Use of Cold-Formed Steel in Residential Housing. In recent years society has begun to re-evaluate our built environment with the objective of achieving higher performance, specifically, to minimize loss attributed to natural hazards and to seek sustainable solutions for long-term needs in the built environment. Low-rise structures in general and residential housing in particular, represent by far the greatest percentage of the world?s building stock. In the past cultural norms largely drove the materials and systems employed for residential housing, today the situation is in flux and the potential to move towards a more scientific performance-basis exists. One material that may see significant increase in use due to its high strength-to-weight ratio, high recycled content, ease of construction, and proven efficiencies is cold-formed steel. This PIs will explores the use of cold-formed steel framing in residential housing in the U.S. and Egypt and seek to (a) develop new non-proprietary systems for cold-formed steel framing with the potential to significantly increase building technical performance and function, and (b) provides a series of archetype studies that explore different framing solutions, including the newly proposed cold-formed steel option, from economic, environmental, and sustainability aspects. The building archetypes studies focus on both rural and urban areas in Egypt and the U.S. The framing solutions examined include (a) traditional framing solutions in Egypt (concrete) and the United States (timber) along with (b) existing repetitive framing in cold-formed steel using commodity shapes and (c) the new system developed in this proposal for cold-formed steel framing that employs novel, optimized, cross-section shapes and a new dual system for load bearing and lateral resistance. Intellectual Merit: The research will advance significantly the application of cold-formed steel framing to residential housing. This is achieved through development of a new cold-formed steel framing structural system, and through careful building archetype studies that specifically weigh the balance between engineering performance and sustainability metrics. In total the research will provide a template for how to evaluate new framing systems in residential housing with a worldwide view, and specifically demonstrate this approach for cold-formed steel framing. The U.S. PI is the driving force behind significant changes in U.S. design specifications that enable new highly efficient cold-formed steel shapes to readily be designed and is uniquely positioned to explore and provide novel solutions for cold-formed steel framing. The Egyptian PI (Abu-Hamd) has a long experience in the performance of steel structures and construction management of steel structures. A detailed implementation plan is provided for the research. The resources required largely utilize the already active work at both institutions. Broader Impacts: The sociological broader impact is largely focused on the creation of a new U.S.-Egyptian partnership on cold-formed steel structures. Personnel exchanges to deepen the experience are planned for. The PI has a strong record of dissemination to academic and industry, both channels will be utilized in this research. Specifically, outreach to industry will include U.S. codes and standards organizations (AISI-COFS) as well as annual meetings of builders and practitioners (Metalcon). Cooperation with building contractors shall also include financing the building of demonstration models of the developed designs in Egypt. The larger goal of the research is to create residential housing that meets engineering performance and sustainability targets with much greater efficiency than current solutions. The partnership with Egypt insures that the full breadth of the problem is explored and that new solutions will have maximum global benefit. This proposal is supported under the US-Egypt Joint Fund Program where NSF supports the US side and the Government of Egypt funds the Egyptian side.