Building of small shelter using steel cold-formed lipped channel : shelter design and members behaviour

Abstract

In view of the numerous natural disasters occurring in the recent years, housing for the victims has become a major issue in most relief missions. To cater to the masses of the disaster victims, time and quantity are the two most important factors. In this project, we are looking into developing a rapidly-deployable shelter designed to sustain a lifetime of one to two years, providing temporary housing for disaster victims. The shelter will be fully made from cold-formed light-gauge steel. It is a type of light-weight high strength section, when used appropriately, can greatly reduce materials cost. In order to achieve minimum construction cost and time, only one type of material will be used for the structure together with one type of connecting material. We have investigated the feasibility of the shelter proposed by previous FYP groups and made modifications considering materials used and ease of construction. Our design is in accordance to the existing British Standards available and we have developed our shelter while following the requirements of BS5950-1 and BS5950-5 closely. And also, we have taken into account several smaller factors like climates and ease of transportation of the materials.