• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.37-66
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• 2019

In cold-formed steel structures, such as trusses, wall frames and portal frames, the use of back-to-back built-up cold-formed stainless-steel lipped channels as compression members are becoming increasingly popular. The advantages of using stainless-steel as structural members are corrosion resistance and durability, compared with carbon steel. The AISI/ASCE Standard, SEI/ASCE-8-02 and AS/NZS do not include the design of stainless-steel built-up channels and very few experimental tests or finite element analyses have been reported in the literature for such back-to back cold-formed stainless-steel channels. Current guidance by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the Australian and New Zealand (gAS/NZS) standards for built-up carbon steel sections only describe a modified slenderness approach, to consider the spacing of the intermediate fasteners. Thus, this paper presents a numerical investigation on the behavior of back-to-back cold-formed stainless-steel built-up lipped channels. Three different grades of stainless steel i.e., duplex EN1.4462, ferritic EN1.4003 and austenitic EN1.4404 have been considered. Effect of screw spacing on the axial strength of such built-up channels was investigated. As expected, most of the short and intermediate columns failed by either local-global or local-distortional buckling interactions, whereas the long columns, failed by global buckling. All three grades of stainless-steel stub columns failed by local buckling. A comprehensive parametric study was then carried out covering a wide range of slenderness and different cross-sectional geometries to assess the performance of the current design guidelines by AISI and AS/NZS. In total, 647 finite element models were analyzed. From the results of the parametric study, it was found that the AISI & AS/NZS are conservative by around 10 to 20% for cold-formed stainless-steel built-up lipped channels failed through overall buckling, irrespective of the stainless-steel grades. However, the AISI and AS/NZS can be un-conservative by around 6% for all three grades of stainless-steel built-up channels, which failed by local buckling.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.513-538
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• 2022

This paper reports on experiments addressing the buckling and collapse behavior of an innovative built-up cold-formed steel (CFS) columns. The built-up column consists of four individual CFS lipped channels, two of them placed back-to-back at the web using two self-drilling screw fasteners at specified spacing along the column length, while the other two channels were connected flange-to-flange using one self-drilling screw fastener at specified spacing along the column length. In total, 12 experimental tests are reported, covering a wide range of column lengths from stub to slender columns. The initial geometric imperfections and material properties were determined for all test specimens. The effect of screw spacing, load-versus axial shortening behaviour and buckling modes for different lengths and screw spacing were investigated. Nonlinear finite element (FE) models were also developed, which included material nonlinearities and initial geometric imperfections. The FE models were validated against the experimental results, both in terms of axial capacity and failure modes of built-up CFS columns. Furthermore, using the validated FE models, a parametric study was conducted which comprises 324 models to investigate the effect of screw fastener spacing, thicknesses and wide range of lengths on axial capacity of back-to-back and flange-to-flange built-up CFS channel sections. Using both the experimental and FE results, it is shown that design in accordance with the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and Australia/New Zealand (AS/NZS) standards is slightly conservative by 6% on average, while determining the axial capacity of back-to-back and flange-to-flange built-up CFS channel sections.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.63 no.3
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• pp.385-400
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• 2017

This paper presents an experimental study on the behavior of axially-loaded steel RHS (rectangular hollow section) compression members that are partially reinforced along their lengths with welded steel plates. 28 slender column tests were carried out to investigate the effects of the slenderness ratio of the unreinforced member and the ratio of the reinforced length of the member to its entire length. In addition to the slender column tests, 14 stub-column tests were conducted to determine the basic mechanical properties of the test specimens under uniform compression. Test results show that both the compressive strength and stiffness of an RHS member can be increased significantly compared to its unreinforced counterpart even when only the central quarter of the member is reinforced. Based on the limited test data, it can be concluded that partial reinforcement is, in general, more effective in members with larger slenderness ratios. A simple design expression is also proposed to predict the compressive strength of RHS columns partially reinforced along their length with welded steel plates by modifying the provisions of AISC 360-10 to account for the partial reinforcement.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.201-211
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• 2017

This study evaluates the reliability of present European codes in predicting the collapse load of columns made with perforated cold-formed steel (CFS) profiles under combined axial load and bending. To this aim, a series of experimental tests on slender open-section specimens have been performed at varying load eccentricity. Preliminarily, stub column tests have also been performed to calculate the effective section properties of the investigated profile. By comparison of experimental data with code-specified M-N strength domains, the authors demonstrate that present code formulations may underestimate the collapse load of thin-walled perforated open sections. The study is the first step of a wider experimental and numerical study aimed at better describing strength domains of perforated CFS open sections.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.1073-1084
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• 2016

Rectangular concrete-filled steel tubular columns with unequal wall thickness were investigated in the paper. The physical centroid, the centroidal principal axes of inertia, and the section core were given. The generalized bending formula and the generalized eccentric compression formula were deduced, and the equation of the neutral axis was also provided. The two rectangular concrete-filled steel tubular stub specimens subjected to the compression load on the physical centroid and the geometric centroid respectively were tested to verify the theoretical formulas.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.17 no.3 s.76
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• pp.357-363
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• 2005

There is a great need for high-strength steel especially for the high-rise steel building structure. High-strength steels, however, may have mechanical properties that are significantly different from those of the conventional steels. The application of high-strength steels to building structures should be reviewed as to whether the inelastic behavior equivalent to that of conventional steels can be attained or not. In this study, SM570TMC steel was tested to evaluate buckling strength under axial compressive force. The comparison tests for local buckling strength evaluation of box-type and H-shaped welded columns were performed with variable width-thickness ratios. As for the experimental check, the maximum strength of stub column was determined by local buckling as far as the limit of width-to-thickness ratio was satisfied with current design codes. Also, the strength of the stub column did not decrease suddenly by local buckling before maximum strength even when the ratio is not satisfied. The buckling strength of SM570TMC steel was higher than both ASD (Allowable Stress Design) and LRFD (Load and Resistance Factor Design) specifications.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.10 no.2 s.35
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• pp.153-160
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• 1998

The sectional dimensions and initial crookedness of the RHS(rectangular hollow section, ${\boxe}-75{\times}75{\times}3.2,\;{\boxe}-100{\times}100{\times}4.2,\;{\boxe}-125{\times}125{\times}6.0$) were measured. The axial compressive strength tests for columns with slenderness $46{\sim}84$ were performed as well as stub tests and tensile tests. FEM analysis was also used. The measurement shows that the errors of sectional dimensions are negligible. For the column length corresponding to ${\lambda}=100$, the initial crookedness with the 2.5% probability estimated from the measured results is 1/490, 1/1121 1/1395 for each section respectively. The yield strengths obtained from tensile test are higher than the specified minimum value by more than 30%. The column test shows that the maximum axial resistances are almost same as, or a little higher than the FEM results and the specified strength curves of AISC Specification and Eurocode, when the maximum strengths from the stub tests are used as the yield strength of the steel. But the test results show much higher column strength than those specified in the Standard and Code, when the specified minimum yield strength of the steel is used.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.537-544
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• 2009

The design standards, such as AISC-LRFD (2005) and KBC-2005, specify the maximum width-to-thickness ratio that can be used for computing the strength of the concrete-filled tube (CFT), and do not include any formula for computing the strength when the width-to-thickness ratio is over the limit. This paper proposes a strength equation for CFTs with a large width-to-thickness ratio by acknowledging the fact that the stiffened slender steel platehas substantial postbuckling strength, and that it therefore can be more economical to use it. The equation adopts the concept of effective width,which is very useful for plate analysis. By comparing the strengths of AISC2005, KBC2005, and the proposed method with the results of the experiment, where the width-to-thickness ratio was regarded as the main parameter, the applicability of the proposed method was verified.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.545-552
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• 2009

An experimental study was performed on the yLRC composite column. Its external surface was manufactured with y-shape steel sheets and L-shape steel angles, and concrete was poured inside in the field. This composite column has improved the section capacity due to the composite action of steel and concrete, and provides good efficiency in reducing the terms of construction works because of its abridged formworks. The stub column specimens (three small and three large specimens) were tested through concentrical axial loading, and the effect of the width-to-thickness ratio of the steel angle on the column axial strength was examined. The axial strength and behavior of the composite columns were analyzed, and a formula for predicting the axial load capacity was proposed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.31-51
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• 2012

Local buckling can be ignored for hot-rolled ordinary strength steel equal angle compression members, because the width-to-thickness ratios of the leg don't exceed the limit value. With the development of steel structures, Q420 high strength steel angles with the nominal yield strength of 420 MPa have begun to be widely used in China. Because of the high strength, the limit value of the width-to-thickness ratio becomes smaller than that of ordinary steel strength, which causes that the width-to-thickness ratios of some hot-rolled steel angle sections exceed the limit value. Consequently, local buckling must be considered for 420 MPa steel equal angles under axial compression. The existing research on the local buckling of high strength steel members under axial compression is briefly summarized, and it shows that there is lack of study on the local buckling of high strength steel equal angles under axial compression. Aiming at the local buckling of high strength steel angles, this paper conducts an axial compression experiment of 420MPa high strength steel equal angles, including 15 stub columns. The test results are compared with the corresponding design methods in ANSI/AISC 360-05 and Eurocode 3. Then a finite element model is developed to analyze the local buckling behavior of high strength steel equal angles under axial compression, and validated by the test results. Following the validation, a finite element parametric study is conducted to study the influences of a range of parameters, and the analysis results are compared with the design strengths by ANSI/AISC 360-05 and Eurocode 3.