Experimental and analytical investigations of steel and composite trusses

The experimental and analytical investigations on bare and composite rectangular hollow sections (RHS) used as members of trusses are presented in this paper. The load resistances of the trusses consisted of steel and concrete-filled RHS tubes are compared to quantify the beneficial effects due to the in-filled concrete. The maximum loads on the trusses are also computed by the design method in Eurocode 3 (Steel member) and Eurocode 4 (Composite member) and compared with the test results. The results showed that the use of effective length method in linear analysis and design method is less convenient and accurate than the second-order analysis. The second-order analysis and design method not only gives a more accurate prediction than the linear analysis, but it also provides an efficient design as the assumption of effective length is not required to guess.