Experimental Local Stability of 3D‐printed Stub Columns Stiffened by Sinusoidal Waves

Abstract

Traditional structural steel manufacturing routes typically produce prismatic members comprising of flat plates. Under compressive actions, the capacity of these sections is often dominated by plate instability of the lowest buckling mode. To validate a new plate strengthening method by assigning ‘higher‐order’ 2D sinusoidal waves to plated structures, this study involves experimental testing of 3 prismatic SHS stub columns and 6 non‐prismatic members strengthened by this method. The test samples were 3D printed in 316L stainless steel using Selective Laser Melting. Tensile coupon tests were carried out on samples printed from the same material to obtain the material properties. It was found that the yield strength increases with the plate thickness whilst ultimate strength remains approximately unchanged. The stub column test results show that assigning 2D sinusoidal waves to EAS flanges can bring different levels of strength enhancement compared to their prismatic counterparts, depending on the section slenderness and the wave amplitude. The best case evaluated within this study indicated a strength gain of 31% over the prismatic section with only a 3.2% increase in used material. It makes an important step in bringing this technology towards feasibility by verifying previous numerical results, paving the way towards unprecedented efficiency in future steel structures.