Experimental study and numerical analysis on bearing capacity of 6082-T6 aluminum alloy columns under eccentric compression at elevated temperatures

Abstract

This paper carried out an experimental study and numerical analyses on 6082-T6 aluminium alloy columns under eccentric loading at elevated temperatures. The mechanical properties of standard specimens were obtained from tensile tests performed at different temperatures. Thirty-two aluminium alloy columns were tested under eccentric compression at elevated temperatures to determine their corresponding bearing capacity. The experimental results showed that overall bending buckling occurred in all column specimens and that the bearing capacity of the specimens decreased with increasing temperature and eccentricity. Based on simulations of finite element (FE) models with different section dimensions and normalized slenderness ratios, the buckling bearing capacity and correlation curves of 652 aluminium alloy columns under eccentric compression were obtained. This paper proposed a new correction coefficient that can be used for design formula modification. The results can be seen that all the numerical curves are above the linear correlation curve and the proposed design formula was found to be suitable and effective through comparisons between the FEA results, test results and the modified correlation curve at different temperatures. Additionally, reliability analysis has also been conducted to evaluate the reliability level of the proposed design method for aluminium alloy columns at elevated temperatures.