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Project

Welded austenitic and duplex open members under combined loading.

The current design provisions for stainless steel structures are today rather inefficient and overly conservative. This has prompted research aimed at investigating the structural performance of stainless steel members over the last decade. However, previous experimental and numerical studies mainly focused on the structural behaviour of closed tubular sections, made, overall, of austenitic grades, while welded open sections have yet scarcely been investigated. In this proposal, the structural performance of stainless steel welded open I-sections will firstly be investigated through a comprehensive testing programme, comprising, in total, 44 tests. In parallel with the experimental study, numerical modelling using the FE method will be carried out. Upon validation of the numerical models against the experimental results, a series of parametric studies will be performed to generate further structural performance data over a broad range of open crosssection sizes (I-, channel, angle and cruciform sections), member slendernesses and loading combinations including combined compression plus bending. The experimental and numerical data will be used to refine the current design provisions for welded open sections. Specifically, with regards to member stability, the buckling curves for members susceptible to flexural buckling (major and minor axis bending), torsional buckling and torsional-flexural buckling will be revised.

Date:1 Jan 2018 →  31 Dec 2018
Keywords:Stainless steel, Combined loading
Disciplines:Metallurgical engineering