Design procedures for cold-formed stainless steel equal-leg angle columns

Abstract

Currently, there is still no explicit design approach for cold-formed stainless steel columns with equal-leg angle sections in Europe. A comprehensive numerical investigation, validated by the available experiments collected in the literature, has therefore been undertaken to provide benchmark data for the assessment of design procedures for cold-formed stainless steel angle columns currently adopted in European and Australian codes. Minor-axis flexural buckling, as well as flexural-torsional buckling have been considered. In total, 27 different cross-section sizes covering both slender and non-slender sections, and a wide range of column slenderness values have been examined including austenitic, duplex and ferritic grades. On the basis of the experimental and numerical results, new design recommendations for cold-formed stainless steel equal-leg angle columns have been made per family of stainless steel. The suitability of the proposals was confirmed by means of a reliability analysis.