Ultimate failure behaviour of second-generation sheeting subjected to combined bending moment and concentrated load

Second-generation sheeting is widely used for cladding and roof construction. At interior supports, it is subjected to combined bending moment and concentrated load. Unfortunately, design rules for this loading are complicated and do not provide insight in the sheeting's failure behaviour. This means there is a need for a new, insight providing design rule. For firstgeneration sheeting, a similar problem did exist. The Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TUE) carried out three research projects [Bakk92a,Vaes95a, HofmOOa] that provided insight in the firstgeneration sheeting behaviour and resulted in a new, insight providing design rule. The TUE now uses the strategy of these three research projects for a new project on second-generation sheeting [KaspOla], with the final aim of a new design rule for second-generation sheeting. In this new project, experiments on commonly used (in the Netherlands) second-generation sheeting were carried out. Second-generation sheeting behaviour was compared with firstgeneration sheeting behaviour. For sheeting with only stiffeners in flange, load falls occur before ultimate load. Stiffeners in the web only result in load falls after the ultimate load. For an experiment with only stiffeners in the web, a finite element simulation was made. The simulation predicts the sheeting behaviour fairly well and indicates how a stiffener affects the sheeting behaviour.