Tech Note W101-23: Common Design Issues for Deflection Track
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This Tech Note Updates and Replaces Tech Note W101-09
Summary: When cold-formed steel studs are used on exterior walls between spandrel beams or floor slabs to create the exterior envelope of the building, a deflection track is often required at the top of the wall to allow for the roof or floor above to deflect without transferring axial load to the studs. This Technical Note explores two methods for deflection track usage. Additional design guidance is provided in CFSEI Tech Note W100, Single Slip Track.
Disclaimer: Designs cited herein are not intended to preclude the use of other materials, assemblies, structures or designs when these other designs demonstrate equivalent performance for the intended use. CFSEI documents are not intended to exclude the use and implementation of any other design or construction technique.
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Tech Note B001-20: How Cold-Formed Steel Framing is Produced
Summary: Cold-formed steel seems like a fairly simple product when you are holding it in your hand, but as you can see, there are many production steps involving things like mining iron ore out of the ground, creating molten steel, furnaces above 2,000°F, reduction mills imparting forces in excess of 100,000 pounds per square inch, and hydrochloric acid cleaning baths before it even reaches the roll forming stage. This Tech Note has provided a basic outline of the processes involved in producing the products you work with daily, be it manufacturing, drafting, designing, engineering, installing or demolishing a building at the end of its life cycle.
Disclaimer: Designs cited herein are not intended to preclude the use of other materials, assemblies, structures or designs when these other designs demonstrate equivalent performance for the intended use. CFSEI documents are not intended to exclude the use and implementation of any other design or construction technique.

Tech Note G103-11a: Tabulated Local And Distortional Elastic Buckling Solutions For Standard Shapes
Summary: This note provides elastic buckling moments and forces for local and distortional buckling of typical standard sections such as those in the AISI S201 Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Framing—Product Data and the Steel Stud Manufacturers Association (SSMA) Product Technical Information Catalog. These tabulated values allow designers to quickly examine and evaluate the use of the direct strength method (DSM) for design. Note that basic information on DSM is discussed in CFSEI Technical Note G102.
Disclaimer: Designs cited herein are not intended to preclude the use of other materials, assemblies, structures or designs when these other designs demonstrate equivalent performance for the intended use. CFSEI documents are not intended to exclude the use and implementation of any other design or construction technique.

Tech Note B010-21: Introduction to AISI S202, Code of Standard Practice for Cold-Formed Steel Structural Framing
Summary: Understanding the responsibilities of the different parties involved in a cold-formed steel framing project can be confusing. This Technical Note is an introduction to AISI S202, Code of Standard Practice for Cold-Formed Steel Structural Framing published by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).
Disclaimer: Designs cited herein are not intended to preclude the use of other materials, assemblies, structures or designs when these other designs demonstrate equivalent performance for the intended use. CFSEI documents are not intended to exclude the use and implementation of any other design or construction technique.

Tech Note G101-08: Design Aids and Examples for Distortional Buckling
Summary: The objective of this Tech Note is to provide design examples and design aids specific to cold-formed steel framing systems that address the new distortional buckling limit states added to AISI-S100 in the 2007 edition. In addition, a method is provided for including rotational restraint, provided by sheathing to members, in the design calculations for distortional buckling. This method has been proposed for the next edition of AISI-S210 (floors and roofs) and AISI-S211 (walls studs) standards and partially mitigates the reduced capacity in the distortional buckling limit state.
Note: This document was originally published as G100-08, corrected to G101-08 in April 2011.
Disclaimer: Designs cited herein are not intended to preclude the use of other materials, assemblies, structures or designs when these other designs demonstrate equivalent performance for the intended use. CFSEI documents are not intended to exclude the use and implementation of any other design or construction technique.

Tech Note F140-16: Welding Cold-Formed Steel
Summary: In cold-formed steel construction, welding is a viable connection method. Of the various forms of welding, arc welding is most commonly used to join both cold-formed steel members and hardware components. Prefabrication of roof trusses, panelization of walls, and hardware connections are all ideal applications where welding may be the preferred joining method. This Tech Note provides information on the applicable codes, processes, procedures, design considerations, fabrication and inspection.
This Technical Note updates and replaces CFSEI Technical Note F140-10
Disclaimer: Designs cited herein are not intended to preclude the use of other materials, assemblies, structures or designs when these other designs demonstrate equivalent performance for the intended use. CFSEI documents are not intended to exclude the use and implementation of any other design or construction technique.

Tech Note F101-12: Screws for Cold-Formed Steel-To-Wood and Wood-To-Cold-Formed Steel Attachments
Summary: Screws are often used to attach cold-formed steel (CFS) framing to wood members or wood structural panel decking to CFS joists or rafters. The AISI North American Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members (AISI S100) provides design equations for screw connection capacity for CFS members. The National Design Specification for Wood Construction (NDS) provides design equations for fastener/connection capacity (nails, wood screws, bolts, etc.) in wood members. The Engineered Wood Association (APA) and the building codes offer several resources for determining the capacity of screw connections attaching wood sheathing. This Tech Note reviews these resources and discusses design and detailing of these fastener connections.
Disclaimer: Designs cited herein are not intended to preclude the use of other materials, assemblies, structures or designs when these other designs demonstrate equivalent performance for the intended use. CFSEI documents are not intended to exclude the use and implementation of any other design or construction technique.

Tech Note B005-20: Introduction to Cold-Formed Steel Framing Design Aids
Summary: Both steel industry and manufacturers’ associations provide design aids that assist engineers with the proper application of the cold-formed steel design challenges. Design examples and design aids are essential to educate an engineer in the proper use and design of cold-formed steel members, connections and assemblies. This Tech Note provides an overview of some of the available cold-formed steel framing design aids.
Disclaimer: Designs cited herein are not intended to preclude the use of other materials, assemblies, structures or designs when these other designs demonstrate equivalent performance for the intended use. CFSEI documents are not intended to exclude the use and implementation of any other design or construction technique.

Tech Note 559: Design Considerations for Flexural and Lateral-Torsional Bracing
Summary: Load bearing cold-formed/light gauge steel (CFS/LGS) framed walls are typically designed for a combination of axial and lateral out-of-plane (flexural) loading. Under this loading condition, common C-section studs may be susceptible to local, torsional, flexural, torsional-flexural, lateral-torsional or distortional buckling. The response performance of the stud depends on a number of parameters most notably how it is supported along its length (including its ends), the relative magnitudes of the applied loads and the distribution of these loads. This Technical Note discusses the behavior of the typical wall stud and provides some practical considerations for design of torsional-flexural and lateral-torsional bracing. Recommendations and considerations suggested in this technical note are done in accordance with acceptable practices and existing design documents.
Disclaimer: Designs cited herein are not intended to preclude the use of other materials, assemblies, structures or designs when these other designs demonstrate equivalent performance for the intended use. CFSEI documents are not intended to exclude the use and implementation of any other design or construction technique.