Full-scale experimental and numerical study about structural behaviour of a thin-walled cold-formed steel building affected by ground settlements due to land subsidence

Abstract. Land subsidence due to ground water withdrawal is a problem in many places around the world (Poland, 1984). This causes differential ground settlements that affect masonry structures, because these structural materials do not exhibit an adequate performance beyond a certain level of angular distortion. This work presents the experimental and numerical results about a study regarding the performance of a full-scale thin-walled cold-formed steel building affected by ground differential settlements due to land subsidence. The experimental stage consisted in the construction of a test-building to be subjected to differential settlements in laboratory. The numerical stage consisted in performing a numerical non-linear static pull-down analysis simulating the differential ground settlements of the test-building. The results show that the structural performance of the tested building was very suitable in terms of ductility.