AISI/DOE Technology Roadmap Program: Development of Cost-effective, Energy-efficient Steel Framing

Technical Report · Mon Jan 06 04:00:00 EST 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/807633· OSTI ID:807633

Elhajj, Nader R ^[1]

---

1. National Association of Home Builder (NAHB) Research Center, Inc.

Steel members in wall construction form a thermal bridge that interrupts the insulation layer of a wall. This causes higher rate of heat transfer by conduction through the wall framing than through other parts of the wall. One method to reduce the thermal bridging effect is to provide a break, such as insulating sheathing. A thermally efficient slit-web and stud was developed in this program to mitigate the conductivity of steel. The thermal performance of the slit-web stud was evaluated at Oak Ridge National Laboratory using hotbox testing. The thermal test results showed that the prototype slit-web stud performed 17% better than the solid-web stud, using R-13 fiber glass batts with exterior OSB sheathing and interior drywall. The structural behavior of this slit-web stud was evaluated in axial, bending, shear, shearwall, and stub-column tests. Test results indicated that the slitweb stud performed similarly or better than the solid-web stud in most structural performance characteristics investigated. Thus, the prototype slit-web stud has been shown to be thermally efficient, economiexecy viable, structurally sound, easily manufactured and usable in a range of residential installations.

• Research Organization: American Iron and Steel Institute (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: (US)
• DOE Contract Number: FC07-97ID13554
• OSTI ID: 807633
• Report Number(s): DOE/ID/13554; TRP 9703
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
BENDING
CONSTRUCTION
FIBERS
GLASS
HEAT TRANSFER
ORNL
PERFORMANCE
SHEAR
STEELS
TESTING