Experimental Investigation On The Effects Of Overhang Length Variations Of Steel Roof Cladding Under Uplift Pressure

In the rural areas of northern Peninsular Malaysia, the common profiled steel cladding systems in many low-rise buildings are classified as non-engineered structures. These structures are made of thin steel and are crest-fixed. However, these claddings often suffer from local pull-through failure at the screw connections during a windstorm. Due to the unavailability of standard information and design formulae in Malaysia, investigation in this area is much needed. Hence, this study aims to investigate the changes in the pull-through capacity of different overhang lengths (150 mm and 300 mm) for corrugated and trapezoid roof claddings. A new simple test method using single-span cladding was conducted under loading of static uplift pressure using a hydraulic testing machine. The results demonstrated that the pull-through capacity of corrugated roof cladding was higher than the capacity of the trapezoidal roof cladding. Moreover, as the overhang length was increased, the pull-through capacity of the steel cladding became smaller for both cladding profiles. Based on this observation, localised dimpling failure for corrugated cladding and cross-sectional distortion for trapezoidal roof cladding was observed. In conclusion, the pull-through capacity and applied load decreased with increased roof cladding length for both cladding profiles.