Standards Australia will release a public comment draft for AS/NZS 4600, Cold-formed steel structures.

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The main changes in the draft are as follows:

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• Section 7 ‘Direct Strength Method (DSM) of design’ includes sections with holes, inelastic reserve capacity, shear and combined actions, and a wider range of prequalified sections

• Section 8 ‘Testing’ has been updated to align with the National Construction Code.

• New Section 9 ‘Fire’ includes design requirements for fire protected members at elevated temperatures

• New Appendix B ‘Methods of Structural Analysis’ includes first order, second order and advanced structural analysis

• Appendix D ‘Buckling Stresses’ includes requirements for all elastic buckling for local, distortional and flexural-torsional modes

• Section 5.3 ‘Power Actuated Fasteners (PAFs)’ includes requirements for PAFs in tension and shear

• Revised Section 5 ‘Connections’ includes new requirements for block shear rupture and net section tension and for screw connections under combined shear and tension

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Additionally, the draft AS/NZS 4600 incorporates the latest research from the North American Specification NAS S100 2012 and Australian and New Zealand research on DSM, fire and structural analysis.

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Public comment opens on 16 December 2016 and closes 3 March 2017.

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All draft standards open for public comment and instructions on how to comment can be found through this link.