Evaluating the connecting members of cold-formed steel structures in reconstruction of earthquake-prone areas in Iran using the AHP methods

In terms of earthquake risk, Iran is placed among the first 10 countries in the world, and it is located on the earthquake belt of Alpine–Himalaya. But despite the timeworn areas in towns and villages in Iran, the need to study critical situations seems vital. Thus, the use of cold-formed steel structures due to its high execution speed, low consumption of materials, and flexibility of its executing methods seems to be appropriate in order to reconstruct or to rehabilitate vulnerable areas in comparison with other buildings. One of the major weaknesses of cold-formed steel structures is the type of attachment of their members to each other; in this regard, in this study, first various methods of connecting these members were extracted from interviews with experts in the field of earthquake engineering and construction management. . . by applying the group decision-making method based on a pairwise comparison model. Finally, the preferences and ultimate weights of the indices were determined, and finally, it has been concluded that attaching using bolts is the best method of cold-formed steel attachment in Iran due to its high resistance against earthquake loads and long life span in reconstructing and rehabilitating the earthquake zone.