professor ben schafer's thin-walled structures research group - johns hopkins university

PAST ARTICLES

Bio-corner added to web site

(January 2007)

    With all of the excellent and active research in biological applications at Johns Hopkins the thin-walled structures group has several unique collaborations in "bio" related applications. A new set of links and commentary has been added to this site to track this work. Take a look here and let us know what you think. 

CUFSM v3.12 released

(December 2006)

    A minor release of CUFSM with bug fixes has been released. The new version (improved from version 3.11) allows users to properly read in older 2.5 and 2.6 files and also provides a correction to the b cross-section property (b is provided to the user, but not employed in calculation.). This release follows from the successful release of version 3.11 in October. 

CUTWP New Release (Dec 2006 release)

(December 2006)

    CUTWP is a software tool that provides thin-walled section properties (I, J, Cw, b) as well as classical global buckling solutions for flexural, flexural-torsional, and lateral-torsional buckling. Thanks to our users a bug in the lateral-torsional buckling calculations (b actually) was identified and has now been corrected. The latest version for matlab and standalone are now available. (Note to CUFSM users, the bug in CUTWP is unrelated to CUFSM).

the group at DC United game August 2007

(L to R: Cris, Yared, Mina, Luiz, Vahid)

Progress report on DSM for holes released

(July 2007)

    The fourth progress report detailing extension of the Direct Strength Method to cover members with holes has been posted. The report details our recent nonlinear modeling of columns with holes including new methods for determining initial residual stresses and strains in cold-formed steel members, and also looks at several design options for dealing with 'net section' issues in the Direct Strength Method. Go here to see all of the reports. Download: report or presentation 

New logo new plans for CFSEI

(March 2007)

    A new logo has just been finalized for CFSEI. This new logo comes as part of the re-branding of the Institute. Professor Schafer served as President of

CFSEI for 2006/7 year, which just ended. During this last year CFSEI developed a new strategic plan and a specific implementation plan funded by the Steel Framing Alliance to meet the objectives in the strategic plan. Also, a full-time Manager, Brian Berger, was hired for the Institute. For more information see www.cfsei.org.  

thin-walled structures group, October 2006

(L to R: Luiz, Yared, Vahid, Mina, Dr. S, Cris)

Progress report on DSM for holes released

(March 2007)

    The third progress report detailing extension of the Direct Strength Method to cover members with holes has been posted. The report details our recent experimental program on columns with holes as well as new work examining existing experiments on beams with holes. Go here to see all of the reports.  

Prof. Y.K. Cheung, creater of the finite strip method thanks Prof. Schafer for his participation at Ben Young's Steel Symposium in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Symposium

(November 2006)

    Professor Schafer presented the latest developments in the Direct Strength Method at Ben Young's symposium in Hong Kong: Innovative Design of Steel Structures. Pictured above is Professor Schafer with Y.K. Cheung, creator of the finite strip method, and currently special advisor to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong.

New Version of CUFSM Released (v3.11)

(October 2006)

    Our popular and free software for the cross-section elastic buckling analysis of thin-walled members using the finite strip method has been significantly updated and is now available both as a compiled standalone version for PCs and a fully open Matlab version for any platform. The new version of CUFSM provides several interface improvements, but also brings the constrained finite strip method, or cFSM, to users for the first time. This new variant of traditional finite strip methods allows users to focus on individual cross-section stability modes in isolation and/or examine the results of general analysis in new detail, through modal decomposition features previously only available with Generalized Beam Theory techniques. Learn more about cFSM here, and download CUFSM here.

LGSEA now CFSEI - with Big Plans

(Fall 2006)

    The Light Gauge Steel Engineers Association has renamed itself as the Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute, or CFSEI. The new name came out of a recent strategic planning session conducted by the Board. Along with the new name the organization has a new plan and direction for the coming years - learn more about CFSEI's plans through this presentation. Professor Schafer currently serves as President for the CFSEI.

Direct Strength Method - MBMA Workshop

(July 2006)

    With the sponsorship of the MBMA a workshop on the Direct Strength Method was held in July of 2006 for MBMA members. The workshop materials are available online here.

Direct Strength Method Design Guide

(Summer 2006)

    The Direct Strength Method for the design of cold-formed steel members now has a 170 page design guide, complete with nearly 100 pages of practical examples to help practitioners and students learn more about this new and flexible method for member design of cold-formed steel. The Guide was authored by Professor Schafer through funding by the American Iron and Steel Institute. Purchase a copy of the Guide at AISI or though the Steel Framing Alliance.

Schafer named President of LGSEA

(Spring 2006)

    The Light Gauge Steel Engineers Association (LGSEA) recently named Prof. Schafer as President of their organization. With a membership of approximately 800 members the LGSEA strives to serve the technical needs of structural engineers working with cold-formed steel structures. More about the LGSEA is available at their website www.lgsea.com.  

New distortional buckling provisions

(March 2006)

    At the most recent AISI-COS cold-formed steel meetings a new design provision to account for the distortional buckling limit state in beams was passed. You can read more about the research that lead to these new provisions in the links to the left. 

Global buckling calculations made easy

(December 2005)

    For a number of years now we have made available our finite strip software, CUFSM, for determining the stability of thin-walled member. However, at times, you may only be concerned with global buckling behavior, such as flexural-torsional buckling and not need the more general power of CUFSM. Enter, CUTWP, a program written by Andrew Sarawit that generates section properties and performs classic global buckling calculations. We have recently made CUTWP available in an open source format similar to CUFSM, and enhanced CUTWP so that it can read CUFSM input files. Have fun with the free software!

Mid Atlantic Steel Framing Conf.

(May 2005)

    The mid atlantic chapter of the steel framing alliance (MASFA) came together to share technical talks and network. Dr. Schafer introduced the Direct Strength Method of Cold-Formed Steel Design to the attendees. His slides are available here.

Final report on beam distortional buckling

(February 2005)

    Our final report on distortional buckling in cold-formed steel beams has been posted. The report provides experimental data for strength prediction in distortional buckling and new findings related to modeling and design for distortional buckling including incorporating the effect of moment gradients and partial restraint. 

New Analysis Ideas Released in Report

(September 2004)

    A new research report has been posted that details our novel new method for constraining the finite strip method to produce modal solutions similar to those employed in Generalized Beam Theory (GBT). Updates to CUFSM to allow others to employ this method are in the works. For more details.  

Direct Strength Method passes AISI

(January 2004 revision)

    The Direct Strength Method (DSM), an entirely new design method for cold-formed steel that uses member elastic buckling solutions, passed the AISI Committee on Specifications at its July 2003 meetings and has now the language for the final version has been finalized.  Learn more about DSM and get the finalized version, or take a look at the talk  introducing DSM that tied for best presentation at the 2003 Structures Congress. Also, learn more about elastic buckling analysis and  DSM's engine: CUFSM.

Is the femur a thin-walled structure?

(September 2004)

    In collaboration with  Dr. Tom Beck of the JHU medical school we have been applying finite strip analysis to examine the stability of the human femur. Preliminary work is reported at a recent conference. 

Direct Strength Method passes AISI

(January 2004 revision)

    The Direct Strength Method (DSM), an entirely new design method for cold-formed steel that uses member elastic buckling solutions, passed the AISI Committee on Specifications at its July 2003 meetings and has now the language for the final version has been finalized.  Learn more about DSM and get the finalized version, or take a look at the talk  introducing DSM that tied for best presentation at the 2003 Structures Congress. Also, learn more about elastic buckling analysis and  DSM's engine: CUFSM.

Former student takes position at UNT

(January 2005)

    Cheng Yu, who recently completed his Ph.D. on distortional buckling of cold-formed steel beams has accepted a position at the University of North Texas. Cheng can be reached at cyu@unt.edu. 

Special Cold-Formed Steel Issue of JSE

(April 2005)

    Based on the efforts of the ASCE-SEI Committee on cold-formed steel a special issue of the Journal of Structural Engineering (JSE) devoted to cold-formed steel research is being prepared. The papers were solicited from the 2004 CCFSS conference, and are currently under review, Professor Schafer is serving as Guest Editor for this issue of JSE.

Compendex to Log Stability Conferences

(September 2004)

    Through the efforts of Liz Mengel of the Johns Hopkins Libraries, and the ASCE committee on Cold-Formed Steel, Compendex has agreed to begin logging the conference proceedings for the annual SSRC Stability Conference and the bi-annual UMR CCFSS cold-formed steel specialty conference. 

Finite Strip Software is Free! (now v2.6b)

(September 2003 revision)

    CUFSM, our popular and free software for investigating the elastic buckling of arbitrarily shaped, simply supported, thin-walled members  is now available. Extensive online tutorials have been added so that now you can educate yourself about the use of this powerful, but simple, numerical tool in the most efficient manner. Downloads, installation instructions, tutorials, and examples files are all freely available. (go there!). The beta version of CUFSM 2.6 is now out for both Matlab and the standalone version. [JHU Press Release 09.03.2002 (go to article)]

last updated 05/06/08 BWS