Design criteria for pin-ended hot-rolled and laser-welded stainless steel equal-leg angle columns

Abstract

This paper explores an attempt to investigate the structural behaviour and design of equal-leg stainless steel angle columns fabricated by the laser-welding of individual hot-rolled plates and by hot-rolling process. The studies cover columns with pin-ended boundary conditions exposed to pure axial compression. An advanced and realistic finite element model able to replicate the buckling features of stainless steel angle columns is developed and validated against available experiments collected in the literature. Employing the validated finite element model, quantitative numerical parametric studies, considering minor-axis flexural buckling, as well as flexural–torsional buckling, are performed. Based on comprehensive benchmark data, the accuracy, safety and applicability of the existing column design procedures provided in the European and North American structural stainless steel codes are assessed. The evaluation results reveal that the North American codified design procedures lead to conservative and scattered resistance predictions, thereby demonstrating a need for their improvement. As a result of conducted studies, the new criteria for design of pin-ended hot-rolled and laser-welded stainless steel equal-leg angle columns are proposed. Their suitability for inclusion in the European structural stainless steel design code is confirmed by statistical reliability analyses in accordance with EN 1990.