Static strengths of cold-formed steel elliptical hollow section X-joints

Abstract

The newly emerged elliptical hollow section (EHS) has a vast of structural and architectural merits and is favorable for engineers and designers. This paper presents an experimental investigation concerning the structural behavior of cold-formed steel EHS X-joints. Thirty elliptical hollow section X-joints with three different brace-chord orientations were carefully designed, fabricated by robotic gas metal arc welding and tested with the braces axially compressed. The width ratio between brace and chord (β) ranged from 0.29 to 1. The brace-to-chord thickness ratio (τ) ranged from 0.58 to 1.83 and the chord width-to-thickness ratio (2γ) ranged from 10.1 to 52.6. The static strengths, failure modes and load-deformation responses are discussed. The current codified design provisions do not cover the design of cold-formed steel elliptical hollow section X-joints investigated in this study. As the performance of EHS lies between the circular and rectangular hollow sections, the feasibility of the design provisions initially calibrated for conventional X-joints as specified in the CIDECT and Eurocode 3 with incorporation of equivalent section methods as well as the design recommendations previously proposed for hot-rolled steel elliptical joints was evaluated. In general, these design methods provide accurate strength predictions for cold-formed steel elliptical hollow section X-joints. Nevertheless, the scattering of predictions is still a concern and the design method shall be further improved.