Experimental study on the effect of heel plate thickness on the structural integrity of cold-formed steel roof trusses

Applications of Cold-Formed Steel (CFS) are widely used in buildings, bridge and etc. Many researchers initiate the study of CFS to be used as a roof truss system. There is a need to enhance the configurations of CFS roof trusses due to the uncertainty on structural stability and failures in terms of materials and rigidity of joints. The objectives of this research are to determine the effect of heel plate thickness related to the ultimate strength of the roof truss system. Three different thicknesses of heel plate specimens were fabricated and subjected to concentrated loads applied until the specimens failed. The highest ultimate capacity for the experiment was 27 kN. The results showed that the increment of the thickness of the heel plate had slightly increased the ultimate load and the maximum deflection at bottom chord. The top chords could not sustain the loading was the main factor contributed to the structural failure.