Testing, modelling and design of aluminium alloy single-angle members connected by one leg under eccentric compression

Abstract

The buckling behaviour and design of aluminium alloy single-angle members connected by one leg are investigated in this study. Buckling tests were carried out on eight simply supported aluminium alloy single-angle members with the load applied on one leg only. Finite element models were established and validated against test results in this study and previous literature. A comprehensive parametric study was then performed to investigate the reduction in buckling resistance due to the single-side connection, which was shown to be related to the normalised slendernesses, buckling modes and material nonlinearity. The tests and numerical results were employed to assess the applicability of existing design rules for steel single-angle members, including GB50017, EN1993-3-1, EN50341-1, and ASCE 10-15. The comparisons show that these existing design rules could not be directly used for aluminium alloy single-angle members, especially for angle members undergo torsional–flexural​ buckling in axial compression. New design equations are proposed to predict the reduction in buckling resistance caused by the single-side connection and are shown to possess good accuracy.