Influence of multiple load indentation on the mechanical and material behaviour of steel cone-cylinder under axial compression

Abstract

The first set of test data on axial collapse of cone-cylinder assembly having multiple load indentation (MLI) and its accompanying numerical studies is presented in this paper. Two perfect and two imperfect steel cone-cylinders were prepared in pairs. The cone-cylinder models have the following geometric parameters: cone radius of 40 mm, cylinder radius of 70 mm,wall thickness of 0.5 mm and cone angle of 16.7°. Cone and cylinder part were combined using Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welding technique. Results show that the repeatability of the experiment was good (3% for the perfect and 7% for the imperfect). Also, numerical prediction tends to reproduce the test data with good accuracy. The error between both approches ranges from 1% to −8%. Furthermore, the influence of geometric parameters are also significant in determining the collapse load of this type of structure. Finally, the worst multiple load indentation (WMLI) was explored for steel cone-cylinders assembly using different number of load indentations. Results indicate that as the number of indents increases, the sensitivity of the cone-cylinder models to imperfection also increases. However, at different imperfection amplitude, A, two regions were observed; (i) the region where cone-cylinder with N = 8 is more sensitive (A < 1.5), and (ii) the region where N = 4 produce the worst imperfection (1.5 < A ≤ 1.68).