Design of austenitic and duplex stainless steel SHS and RHS beam-columns

Abstract

A finite element analysis and design of austenitic and duplex stainless steel tubular section beamcolumns is presented in this paper. The nonlinear finite element model was verified against experimental results of stainless steel tubular section beam-columns and beams. In this study, square and rectangular hollow sections were investigated. It was shown that the finite element model closely predicted the ultimate loads and failure modes of the tested beam-columns and beams. Hence, the finite element model was used for an extensive parametric study. The axial compressive strengths of the beam-column specimens predicted by the finite element analysis are compared with the design strengths calculated using the linear interaction equation and direct strength method. Reliability analysis was performed to assess the reliability of these design rules. It is shown that these design rules generally provide accurate and reliable predictions for stainless steel tubular section beamcolumns. Design recommendations for linear interaction equation and the direct strength methods are proposed for stainless steel SHS and RHS beam-columns. KeywordsBeam-columns; direct strength method; finite element analysis; rectangular and square hollow sections; stainless steel.

Design of cold-formed stainless steel RHS and SHS beam–columns at elevated temperatures

“…Residual stresses (bending residual stress and membrane residual stress) were generated in cold-forming process. However, the effect of bending stress has been implicitly represented by the material properties obtained from tensile test specimens, while the membrane residual stresses have a negligible effect on the strengths and bending capacities of the specimens [30,28]. Thus, the residual stresses were not considered in the finite element model of the beam-column specimens in this study.…”

“…The proposed DSM is capable of combining the strain hardening of the stainless steel material with the actual stress distribution of the cross section in determining the elastic buckling stress. Chen et al [30] presented a finite element analysis of austenitic and duplex stainless steel tubular section beam-columns, and evaluated the DSM for stainless steel in Arrayago et al [29]. Lopes et al [31,32] conducted a numerical analysis on beam-columns of welded I-section of stainless steel grade EN 1.4301 in fire.…”

Cold-formed stainless steel CHS beam-columns – Testing, simulation and design

“…SHS and RHS beam-column tests have been undertaken for austenitic grades [6,30], for duplex grades [31,32] and for ferritic grades [33,34]. These studies have noted shortcomings in existing international design standards for stainless steel beam-column resistance predictions; existing test data, supplemented with additional numerical simulations, have been used to propose improvements [35,36].…”

Effects of material property and thickness on block shear strength in lean duplex stainless steel welded connections

“…Moreover, Shu et al(2019e) proposed a new strength equation through a study on duplex stainless steel square tube columns and Chen et al(2019b) presented a new design method through research on the bending performance of austenitic and lean duplex stainless steel SHS and RHS beam-column members. Recently, Li et al (2022d) performed the experiments to investigate the mechanical properties of a new duplex stainless steel at room and high temperatures.…”