Numerical Modeling of Conventional Steel Stud Walls’ Static Resistance for Blast Response Predictions

Abstract

Several experimental studies were conducted to evaluate the energy-absorption capacity of conventional and nonconventional cold-formed steel (CFS) stud walls for blast resistance. Recently, experiments were performed to investigate the effect of minor modifications to conventional walls to enhance their performance to resist relatively moderate blast threats without significantly affecting the cost. However, to investigate all possible design parameters experimentally can be costly. Therefore, this paper focused on developing a reliable nonlinear numerical model that predicted the resistance of conventional walls. The model was verified using experimental data to validate its ability to simulate the resistance and toughness of the walls under various parameters, such as the end condition type, the utility holes, stud thickness, and screw sizes and layouts. The numerical model accurately predicted the various details of the static response through all stages of loading that characterize the resistance and the toughness. Hence, the developed numerical model can be utilized to investigate the resistance of steel stud walls for blast modeling and design under various stud, track, connection details, and wall configurations.