Testing and numerical modelling of lean duplex stainless steel hollow section columns

By M. Theofanous, L. Gardner. 2009

247 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Stainless steels are employed in a wide range of structural applications. The austenitic grades, particularly EN 1.4301 and EN 1.4401, and their low-carbon variants EN 1.4307 and EN 1.4404, are the most commonly used within construction, and these typically contain around 8%–11% nickel. The nickel represents a large portion of the total material cost and thus high nickel prices and price volatility have a strong bearing on both the cost and price stability of stainless steel. While austenitic stainless steel remains the most favourable material choice in many applications, greater emphasis is now being placed on the development of alternative grades with lower nickel content. In this study, the material behaviour and compressive structural response of a lean duplex stainless steel (EN 1.4162), which contains approximately 1.5% nickel, are examined. A total of eight stub column tests and twelve long column tests on lean duplex stainless steel square (SHS) and rectangular hollow sections (RHS) are reported. Precise measurements of material and geometric properties of the test specimens were also made, including the assessment of local and global geometric imperfections. The experimental studies were supplemented by finite element analysis, and parametric studies were performed to generate results over a wider range of cross-sectional and member slenderness. Both the experimental and numerical results were used to assess the applicability of the Eurocode 3: Part 1-4 provisions regarding the Class 3 slenderness limit and effective width formula for internal elements in compression and the column buckling curve for hollow sections to lean duplex structural components. Comparisons between the structural performance of lean duplex stainless steel and that of other more commonly used stainless steel grades are also presented, showing lean duplex stainless steel to be an attractive choice for structural applications.

Subfields: Building and Construction, Civil and Structural Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2d6e0b389e8fa808339cdb10b0d5c5caabe2cb76

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Building and Construction

1. L. Gardner
2. Najib Saliba
3. B. Young
4. Yuner Huang
5. O. Zhao
6. B. Rossi
7. S. Afshan
8. M. Theofanous

In Civil and Structural Engineering

1. L. Gardner
2. B. Young
3. Najib Saliba
4. O. Zhao
5. B. Rossi
6. Yuner Huang
7. S. Afshan
8. M. Theofanous

Citations in the corpus

• The Art of Coupon Tests (2014, methodology): “Therefore, researchers [10, 14-16] used different methods for coupon tests on curved specimens, which may lead to different test results.”
• Stability and design of stainless steel structures – Review and outlook (2019, background): “There now exists a significant body of member buckling test and numerical data on stainless steel compression members [64-70], beams [71] as well as beam-columns [72-77], particularly on tubular crosssections, against which these new design methods can be evaluated.”
• Behaviour of structural stainless steel cross-sections under combined loading – Part I: Experimental study (2015, background): “On the basis of the findings, revised slenderness limits for cross-section classification [22] and new effective width formulae for slender sections [13] have been proposed.”
• Cross-section stability of lean duplex stainless steel welded I-sections (2013, methodology): “3 for cold-formed lean duplex stainless steel hollow sections [5, 6], which indicate that the cold-formed material has a more rounded stress-strain response.”