A cold-formed steel lintel for local building construction

Abstract

This dissertation attempts to study the possibility of using a cold-formed steel lintel as a more time-effective alternative to the traditional methods of spanning wide openings (2m-3m) in typical Maltese building construction. Manufacturing and corrosion protection of a cold-formed lintel, together with the typical loading situations are discussed with the aim of identifying the associated problems that are likely to occur if such a product is put into use locally. A tentative lintel profile is developed with the help of a computer program incorporating the relevant structural theory. Physical tests on this profile are described, and a comparison is made between the test results and results from the computer program. This enables study of the effects of variations and enhancements made to the original profile. The last chapter compares the cost of the tentative steel lintel profile to that of the present methods used to span wide openings.