Ben Schafer
Assistant Professor
203 Latrobe Hall
410-516-7801
August 4, 2005
To: ASCE-SEI TAC Metals
Re: ASCE-SEI Committee on Cold-Formed Members
2005 Annual Report
August 12, 2004 – August 4, 2005
The committee’s focus over the past year has been on (1) preparation of papers and reviews for a special issue of the Journal of Structural Engineering, and (2) Tom Sputo’s special project on bracing.
Meeting
Members of the committee (16 members and guests) met for a funded meeting in February 2005 at the AISI Committee on Specifications meetings in Las Vegas. Members of the committee (10 members and guests) also met for an un-funded meeting in August 2005 at the AISI Committee on Specifications meetings in Baltiore. AISI has been kind enough to provide us with a free room for our meetings, and place us on the agenda schedule for their meetings. AISI’s assistance is crucial in keeping the activities of our committee fresh and we thank them for their help. In addition, the members of the committee are in regular contact through email, web-based surveys, and a small home page dedicated to the committee (linked at www.ce.jhu.edu/bschafer). The committee will next meet, in person, in a funded meeting in February 2006.
Publications
The committee is finalizing a special publication based on Tom Sputo’s Bracing Design Guide Special Project. The document was successfully shepherded through the review process over the least year. Like any review conducted by volunteers, it was not a speedy process, but in the end quite thorough. The committee had hoped that their efforts spent reviewing the document (see previous meeting minutes and annual reports) would have expedited matters somewhat. The committee is confident the final product will be a significant benefit to the practicing CFS engineering community, representatives of other organizations including LGSEA (Light Gauge Steel Engineers Association) have already expressed interested in furthering the marketing and distribution of this guide.
Technical Sessions
The committee has held successful sessions at the 2003 (Seattle) and 2004 (Nashville) Structures Congress. After initial acceptance, our proposed 2005 (NYC) session was rejected. After discussion it was decided that the committee would continue to propose sessions despite the disappointment with the 2005 Congress.
The committee planned 3 sessions for the 2006 (St Louis) Structures Congress. (See meeting minutes for further details). Two sessions were ultimately submitted to the conference organizers, “Train the Trainers” and “Load Bearing Cold-Formed Steel Behavior and Design”. The first session was rejected, but the second session selected by the organizers. We are proceeding with committee member Don Allen as the Champion to organize and finalize our session.
The committee would like to note the much improved deadlines and submission process with regard to the Structures Congress. In particular, the ability to submit an entire session instead of just individual papers was much improved, as was the linkage back to the technical committees themselves.
Journal Articles
The committee is coordinating a special issue of JSE that will include a subset of “best of” papers from the 2004 CCFSS Conference. Schafer is the guest AE, and committee members have provided papers and extensive reviews. We have completed the initial reviews of all papers. The total number of submitted papers is 20 from the conference + 2 more assigned by ASCE. To date, 6 have been declined, 7 approved, and 9 are currently in the re-review process. This effort has involved a significant amount of time from the committee members in the paper preparation and review processes, all are to be thanked for their efforts, and we are all looking forward to successful completion of the special issue.
Other Activities
The June issue of STRUCTURE magazine focused on cold-formed steel and included contributions from a number of members of the committee. Better coordination of STRUCTURE with the TACs in ASCE is encouraged.
The committee tried an interactive webpage (known as a Wiki) for the development and answering of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on cold-formed steel design. The FAQs were initially developed through a survey of the committee members and compiled by the chair then put on the web where all could answer and comment on the questions. Ultimately the format was too cumbersome for the committee and in 2005 it was decided to cease this effort. The FAQs developed to date may be compiled for use in a brief, future article.
Our bi-annual research needs list exercise will begin again in Fall 2005. The developed list of research needs will be used to determine our next special project priority. This was the method used for justifying our selection of bracing as the previous special project.
The committee is reviewing possible award quality papers, as they relate to cold-formed steel. The committee is expecting to take a more active role in nominating the best cold-formed steel papers for awards.
The committee continues to coordinate with SSRC, AISI-COS and COFS, LGSEA, SSMA and other CFS groups. Over the last several years attendance at our meetings and involvement of the committee members in activities has continued to increase.
Membership
The committee (as of summer 2005) consists of 18 members (including 8 academics) and 12 friends (past-members, non-eligible corresponding members, etc). In 2005, 4 members will rotate off the committee. The members and friends list includes 6 past members who are re-eligible for the committee in 2005.
Chair’s note
It has been a pleasure serving as Chair of this group for the past 4 years. Tom Sputo will be taking over as Chair and we are all excited about the enthusiasm and energy he will bring to the committee.
Sincerely,
Ben Schafer