Experimental and numerical investigations of cold-formed stainless steel tubular sections subjected to concentrated bearing load

Experimental and numerical investigations of cold-formed stainless steel square and rectangular hollow sections subjected to concentrated bearing load are presented in this paper. A total of 124 data are presented that include 64 test results and 60 numerical results. The tests were performed on austenitic stainless steel type 304, high strength austenitic and duplex material. The measured web slenderness value of the tubular sections ranged from comparatively stocky webs of 6.2 to relatively more slender webs of 61.4. The tests were carried out under end and interior loading conditions. A non-linear finite element model is developed and verified against experimental results. Geometric and material non-linearities were included in the finite element model. The material nonlinearity of the flat and corner portions of the specimen sections were carefully incorporated in the model. It was shown that the finite element model closely predicted the web crippling strengths and failure modes of the tested specimens. Hence, the model was used for an extensive parametric study of cross-section geometries, and the web slenderness value ranged from 52.0 to 206.7. The test results and the web crippling strengths predicted from the finite element analysis were compared with the design strengths obtained using the American, Australian/New Zealand and European specifications for stainless steel structures. A unified web crippling equation with new coefficients for cold-formed stainless steel square and rectangular hollow sections subjected to concentrated bearing load is proposed. It is demonstrated that the proposed web crippling equation is safe and reliable using reliability analysis. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.