Abstract:
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Stainless steel is gaining wider usage in a range of engineering applications due to its favourable mechanical properties and corrosion resistance, with ferritic grades expected to become more prevalent in construction due to their lower and more stable cost compared with traditional austenitic and duplex grades. Circular hollow sections (CHS) are a popular structural cross-section due to their visual appeal and structural attributes. A series of ferritic stainless steel CHS beam-column tests have been undertaken, addressing a lack of existing experimental data for this cross-section type and metallic material. In total, 26 beam-column tests, including two section sizes (a non-slender class 3 and slender class 4 cross-section), two member slenderness values and a wide range of loading eccentricities have been undertaken to investigate the interaction between local and global buckling. The experimental results have also been used to assess current design guidance along with previous stainless steel CHS continuous strength method proposals. The outcome is a new comprehensive dataset, along with initial design recommendations for CHS ferritic stainless steel beam-columns. |