Circular Section Research Articles

Experimental and numerical investigations of S890 and S960 ultra-high strength steel circular hollow section columns

The experimental and numerical investigations of the buckling behaviour and load-carrying capacities of S890 and S960 ultra-high strength steel (UHSS) circular hollow section (CHS) columns were conducted and reported in this paper. The experimental program encompassed tensile coupon tests, initial global and local geometric imperfection measurements and pin-ended column tests. Parallelly, the numerical modelling program was carried out, where the developed finite element (FE) models were validated with reference to the experimental observations and then employed in parametric studies to result in additional numerical data, considering various cross-sectional dimensions and member lengths. Based on the obtained FE and test data, the applicability of the relevant codified design buckling curves in the current European, Australian and American specifications to S890 and S960 UHSS CHS columns was evaluated, since the aforementioned standards only cover the design rules with steel material yield strength no greater than 700 MPa. The assessment results showed that the European code and Australian standard can generally accurately predict the resistances of S890 and S960 UHSS CHS columns, but result in some unsafe data points, while the American specification yielded accurate and consistent resistance predictions. Finally, a revised Eurocode design buckling curve was proposed, accompanied by the reliability assessment through statistical analyses, with the improved design accuracy and consistency revealed.

An analysis of the impact of nanofluids on the cooling effectiveness of pin and perforated heat sinks

In the presented numerical study, the effect of the use of mono and hybrid (CuO/Water at 2% volume concentration and CuO + Fe/Water (1% CuO + 1% Fe)) type nanofluid in heat sinks designed in new geometric structures used to increase the processor cooling performance was investigated. The geometries used are circular, triangular, square, hexagonal, square, and hexagonal, and their perforated structures and their effects on a total of eight geometries were analyzed. In addition to these, the rate of improving the temperature distribution and heat transfer in the heat sink, i.e., the Performance Evaluation Criterion (PEC), was also examined. According to the results obtained, the lowest thermal resistance value is seen in the circular cross-section with Rth = 0.289 K/W, while the highest thermal, i.e., cooling performance is seen in the triangular perforated structure with Rth = 0.63 K/W and at the lowest pressure inlet condition. In terms of temperature distribution, the most uniform distribution was obtained between 311.82 and 308.98 K in the circular section. The most interesting result in terms of the results was the PEC = 1.4 for the triangular hole structure in the heat transfer improvement performance. The main reason for this is that the range of the temperature distribution shown is very high (319–311.5K).

Monte Carlo simulation study on the reliability of concrete-filled HSS beam-column design provisions

Revisions were recently proposed to the way in which concrete-filled hollow structural section (HSS) members are handled in CSA S16. These revisions were based on previous research, comparisons to experiments, and a first-order reliability method analysis of existing provisions for compression and flexural members. In this paper, this topic is further expanded by using Monte Carlo Simulations (MCS) to determine the inherent reliability of the previous and new design rules for concrete-filled rectangular hollow section (RHS) and circular hollow section (CHS) beam-columns. A representative set of concrete-filled RHS and CHS members with variations in concrete strength, wall slenderness, effective length, and loading eccentricity are analyzed. Using MCS, the reliability index (β+) of each is determined over a range of live-to-dead load (L/D) ratios. Inherent β+ values are compared to the code-specified target (i.e., β+ = 3.0 per Annex B of CSA S16) and the CSA S16:19 and AISC 360-16 provisions.

Effect of the plates geometry on the performance of a cross-flow recuperator for indirect evaporative cooling systems

In recent years, Indirect Evaporative Cooling (IEC) is becoming a very interesting technology, as it can guarantee a good cooling effectiveness with low energy demand, thus helping to face the issues of climate change. In this work, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model has been used to evaluate the effects of the plates geometry on the performance of a recuperator for IEC systems with dry primary and secondary channels. The model was validated against experimental data for a cross-flow IEC system with dimpled plates, and the validation results were quite satisfactory. Therefore, five types of dimpled plates differing from the original one in shape and size of the dimples were investigated. The results showed that a good trade-off between the improvement of dry-bulb effectiveness and restrained pressure losses along the channels is obtained with dimples in the shape of right prisms with either triangular, or pentagonal, or circular base section, depending on the application.

Experimental and Numerical Research on the Behavior of Steel Columns with Circular Hollow Cross Sections

A circular, hollow tubular steel column is introduced for experimental and analytical analysis in this study. A series of axial compression tests for the variation of static schemes are reported in this study. All theoretical, numerical, and experimental analyses are based on the European Standards for the steel structure, respectively EN 1993-1-1. The experimental models of steel columns are conducted on actual steel columns with a length of 3000 mm and a circular hollow section of 114.3/2.8 mm. To assess the behavior and stress values of the columns, various schematically supported systems are modeled, starting from the axial-centered columns to the symmetrical eccentric load and asymmetrical loaded columns. 3D modeling of the steel columns using the finite element program SEISMOSOFT is also developed for such elements. The accuracy of the model is compared with the experimental results using numerical analysis by the finite element method. Finally, the numerical comparison of the results provides a recommendation for the engineers regarding the design and construction of such columns. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2024-010-05-014 Full Text: PDF

SCFs for CHS-to-CHS T- and X-type moment-loaded end connections: Proposal for formulae

The research presented in this paper is part of a series of efforts to develop design recommendations for hollow structural section (HSS) connections situated at the end of a truss (or frame) under fatigue loading. Full-sized circular hollow section (CHS)-to-CHS regular and end connections (with open chord ends and chord-end cap plates) were tested under branch in-plane bending to measure strain concentrations at the critical locations. This experimental data was then used to verify a finite element (FE) modelling approach. An FE parametric study (totaling 1120 FE models, including 560 T-type connections and 560 X-type connections) was then carried out to investigate the effects of different chord end boundary conditions (i.e., varied chord end lengths, and open versus cap-plated chord ends). The effects of branch-to-chord width (β), chord slenderness (2γ) ratios and branch-to-chord thickness (τ) were also investigated. It was found that the stress concentration factors (SCFs) in end connections are sensitive to the boundary conditions (i.e., open chord end versus with chord-end cap plate) and all three non-dimensional parameters (β, 2γ and τ). Therefore, SCF correction factors based on e/b0, β, 2γ and τ, are derived for use with existing SCF formulae in CIDECT Design Guide 8.

Structural Behaviour of Concrete-Filled Steel Tubular Stub Columns-Comparative Study

This paper presented details of a research to investigate the structural behaviour of Concrete-Filled Steel Tubular (CFST) stub columns through axial load strength. Three series distinguished were chosen depending of the steel X-sectional area of the tubes for each series of different shape are compared: circular, rectangular and square steel sections considering the parameters of the different types of concrete infill, i.e. normal strength concrete (NSC) or high strength concrete (HSC). It is found from these comparisons that all the codes (Eurocode part 4 (EC4), AISC-360-10 and BS5400-5) predicted conservative column strengths compared to the test results and published theoretical method with an average ratio (0.75 for EC4,0.656 for AISC-360-10 and 0.6 for BS5400-5). the main advantages of the ABAQUS software program are it gave closer predictions to the published experimental study results with an average ratio 0.96, simplicity and the savings in test time. circular CFST stub columns strength was higher than square CFST stub columns when compare rectangular and square in same series the column have higher area of concrete have higher strength.

Experimental study of dynamic pressure and wave load on variform vertical cylinders under extreme waves

Extreme waves pose a significant threat to the proliferating marine structures, however, the impact on the vertical cylinder with different cross-sectional shapes remains inadequately evaluated. Herein, we carried out a physical experiment, comprising 45 scenarios generated by three water depths, three wave paddle velocities, and five vertical cylinder models, to measure the extreme wave-induced pressure and load on this type of structure. The wave load and dynamic pressure distribution in time and spatial domains under the influence of cross-sectional shapes and wave conditions have been fully discussed. The experimental results indicate that: 1) As the position turns from front to back side, the circumferential pressure of five models initially decreases and then increases. 2) The maximum differential pressure between the front and back side decreases with increased water depth and decreased velocity, and occurs earlier than the peak pressure on the front side. 3) The chamfered cross-section (round and right triangle) can significantly reduce the wave load compared to the rectangular section, and the circular section suffers the lowest force logically. The dynamic pressure and wave load in this experiment can serve to establish a more sophisticated load model and provide valuable insights for marine structural design and disaster prevention.

Plastic collapse behavior of plate to CHS connection under biaxially symmetric load

This study investigates the plastic collapse behavior of a non-diaphragm type connection with flange plates connected to a circular hollow section (CHS) column, where four flanges were joined from two orthogonal directions. The analysis was conducted using the finite element method (FEM). The focus was on determining the collapse load of the flange joint under a biaxially symmetric load from the four flanges. In an initial numerical analysis, the fundamental collapse behavior of the cylindrical wall was explored. Finite element models of CHS tubes with perfectly elasto-plastic material properties were employed. The analysis revealed that the plastic collapse mechanism of the cylindrical wall was influenced by the axial force in the transverse flanges. Prediction equations for the collapse load of the joint were formulated, assuming four representative collapse mechanisms and employing the principle of virtual work based on the numerical analysis results. Additionally, the ultimate strength of the joint, determined by the plastic collapse of the cylindrical wall, was computed using finite element models of CHS tubes with realistic hardening properties. A comparison between predictions from the equations based on perfectly elasto-plastic CHS tubes and numerical solutions through finite element analysis (FEA) of CHS tubes with realistic hardening properties validates the accuracy of the proposed prediction equations, even when applied to realistic steel tubes.

Comparative experimental analysis of local buckling in mild and high-strength steel (HSS) CHS subjected to various galvanization techniques

This article reports on an extensive experimental study on galvanized and ungalvanized cold-formed circular hollow sections (CFCHS). All samples were produced by cold-forming thermomechanically rolled steels (TM-steels) in S355, S550, S600, S700, and S960 with high-frequency induction welding (HFI). The test specimens were examined without galvanization, with a pre-galvanization and a post-galvanization. Hardness measurements and microstructural analysis were conducted on seven samples, while the mechanical behavior was examined through 82 tensile and 78 stub-column tests with corresponding imperfection measurements. Despite being classified as prone to local elastic buckling according to international standards, the S960 samples in this study did not exhibit such failure. This suggests that the classification by the codes was conservative. The effects of pre-galvanization on CHS have not been investigated so far, and current findings from literature regarding the impact of post-galvanization on load-bearing behavior suggest a severe capacity decrease for CFCHS in high steel grades. Contrary to previous findings, the current study reveals capacity-enhancing effects resulting from galvanization. Both galvanization types enhanced the stiffness and the cross-section capacity under compression. Galvanization induces changes in material properties, including yield and tensile strength, ductility, and the characteristics of the stress-strain curve. This study serves as a validation base for less conservative yet reliable approaches for the cross-section design of high-strength steel CHS and the utilization of beneficial effects due to galvanization.

Cross-sectional analysis of initially curved composite beams with rectangular and circular sections using an asymptotic meshless method

An analytical meshless cross-sectional dimensional reduction method is developed to perform structural analysis of initially curved composite beams. By introducing the Pascal polynomials in the Cartesian coordinates system for beams with rectangular cross-sections and in the polar coordinates system for the beams with circular cross-sections to the warping field, a three-dimensional beam problem can be split into a two-dimensional cross-sectional analysis and a one-dimensional along the reference line of the beam. The obtained cross-sectional stiffness matrix based on higher-order of the strain energy can be incorporated into a one-dimensional finite element solution for initially curved composite beams, for the purpose of strain and stress analysis. Finally, the three-dimensional strain through the thickness of the beam can be achieved by the recovery analysis. The present method takes advantage of Pascal polynomials so that the solution procedure will be more simplified and computationally more efficient compared to three-dimensional finite element (3D FE) method. The proposed method for different isotropic and anisotropic beams is examined and compared with the literature, 3D FE, and Variational Asymptotic Beam Sectional (VABS) package which is a finite element based cross-sectional analysis tool for composite beams.

Experimental and numerical investigations of S960 hot-rolled ultra-high strength steel seamless circular hollow section beam–columns

The rapid development of manufacturing techniques and material science enables advanced hot-rolled ultra-high strength steel (UHSS) with material grades up to S960 to be available recently. The structural performance of S960 hot-rolled UHSS seamless circular hollow section (CHS) beam–columns manufactured through the advanced fabrication approach was experimentally and numerically investigated and reported in this paper. In physical testing, totally ten beam–column specimens were tested, with the complementary material testing and initial global geometric imperfection measurements through the innovative digital image correlation (DIC) method performed. FE modeling was then carried out; FE models of S960 hot-rolled UHSS seamless CHS beam–columns were established and then validated the test observations in terms of the failure loads and the load–mid-height lateral displacement curves. Parametric studies were thereafter performed, with cross-section dimensions, member lengths and loading combinations varying within a certain range, resulting in the additional 300 data to be acquired. Finally, the applicability of existing design methods, as prescribed in the European code, the Australian standard and the American specification, to S960 hot-rolled UHSS seamless CHS beam–columns was evaluated. It can be concluded from the evaluation results that all the three design codes provide accurate and consistent failure load predictions for S960 hot-rolled UHSS seamless CHS beam–columns.

Cyclic shear testing of artificially corroded reinforced concrete short circular piers

Chloride-induced deterioration of reinforced concrete (RC) structures is an increasingly vital topic among asset management and structural maintenance fields, as many RC bridges and other structures are reaching the end of their initial design lives. Deterioration of the transverse reinforcement in RC piers leads to the direct loss of shear and confinement-related mechanical properties as degradation advances with time. This research investigates the seismic response of fourteen short RC circular piers subjected to artificial chloride-induced corrosion. Each pier is designed to trigger a shear-dominated failure and artificially corroded at two current densities. A maximum average mass loss of 10.5% and 43.0% was measured in the longitudinal and spiral reinforcement, respectively. The influence of confinement effectiveness, spiral diameter, and aspect ratio on the rate of shear capacity degradation are included as test parameters in this study. Results indicate that shear deformation begins to govern performance at moderate to severe deterioration, which precedes the onset of brittle shear-dominated failure modes. Ultimate deflection is more adversely affected by increasing corrosion than all other measured properties, with a maximum observed reduction of 70.9% compared to a maximum 37.5% reduction observed in peak shear capacity. Several existing theoretical models are introduced and evaluated on their ability to predict the shear capacity of the experimental tests. Based on the results, those models directly evaluating the circular section without needing an equivalent section transformation offer the most accurate and reliable predictions.

A cradle-to-site life cycle analysis of laser-cut passing-through tubular joints under different seismic conditions

Steel circular hollow sections (CHS) offer a number of advantages compared to their open section counterparts such as better resistance under tension, compression, bending in all directions and an overall reduction of structural weight, required material for corrosion and fire protection. Nevertheless, the traditional methods to connect open section beams to CHS columns often demand a significant amount of fabrication work, leading to high expenditure and resource consumption – therefore limiting their use in the current industry. These issues can be solved with an automatized joint fabrication. To that purpose, this article proposes two innovative “passing-through” I-to-CHS joints, achieved via laser cutting technology (LCT). Experimental and numerical studies were conducted to assess the joint fabrication aspects as well as the structural performance of the proposed joints. The results showed that the proposed joints can offer respectively 2.5- and 10-times larger strength and stiffness properties compared to a conventional directly welded I-to-CHS joint having similar section properties for the beam and the column. However, this study focuses on the environmental sustainability and economic feasibility of the proposed joints. A cradle-to-site life cycle analysis is conducted using multi-storey frame structures. The environmental and economic impact of the proposed joints are compared with different types of existing I-to-CHS joints in order to assess their possible benefits and limitations. Thanks to the savings in the raw material, surface treatment and transportation resources, it could be stated that, the passing-through approach with LCT offers approximately 32−42% reduction in the construction and fabrication costs of the multi-storey structures while reducing the CO2 emissions by 24−28%, compared to the directly welded I-to-CHS joints.

Confinement-based direct design of axially-compressed octagonal concrete-filled double skin steel tubes

Prior research has highlighted distinctions in the confinement mechanism for concrete-filled double-skin steel tube (CFDSST) columns with octagonal sections compared to circular and square sections. Current design codes primarily address the models for the design of square and circular sections in columns made of concrete-filled steel tube (CFST). This study addresses this gap by presenting a novel confinement-based direct design model specifically developed for octagonal CFDSST columns, encompassing both unstiffened and stiffened outer steel tubes. Initial data collection involved experimental and numerical results of axially-compressed octagonal CFST and CFDSST columns sourced from literature. Subsequently, ultimate compressive resistance, as determined by international design codes (EC4, ACI-318, AISC-360, GB-50936, T/CCES-7, AS/NZS-2327, CSA-S16, AIJ) and existing analytical models, underwent comparison with test results. The results reveal that existing codes and models generally offered accurate predictions, but their consistency across the entire side width-to-thickness (w/to) ratio range varied. The study proposes a new confinement design model for predicting the compressive resistance of octagonal CFDSST columns. Although the new model does not outperform existing ones, it demonstrates satisfactory prediction scatter throughout the w/to ratio and compressive strength (fc′) range, particularly excelling in high-strength concrete (HSC) and ultra-high-strength concrete (UHSC) scenarios. Notably, the proposed formula incorporates the influence of stiffening ribs on the confinement of the octagonal steel tube on concrete, making it applicable for practical design considerations for both unstiffened and stiffened octagonal CFDSST columns.

Global buckling and resistances of austenitic stainless steel semi-oval hollow section beam-columns

As advanced manufacturing technologies become increasingly mature in civil engineering, novel tubular sections, characterised by appealing architectural appearance and prominent structural efficiency, can be fabricated, with an example being semi-oval hollow section. The present paper reports an experimental and numerical investigation into the global buckling behaviour and resistances of austenitic stainless steel semi-oval hollow section beam-columns under combined compression and bending. An experimental programme was firstly performed on ten austenitic stainless steel semi-oval hollow section beam-column specimens and included initial geometric imperfection measurements and eccentric compression tests. The obtained test failure loads, load–mid-height lateral deflection curves and failure modes were fully reported. Following the experimental programme, a numerical modelling programme was conducted, including validation studies to validate developed finite element models against the test results and parametric studies to generate additional numerical data. Given that the existing European code and American specification do not cover the design of stainless steel semi-oval hollow section components, the applicability of the codified design interaction curves for austenitic stainless steel circular hollow section beam-columns to their semi-oval hollow section counterparts was evaluated based on the obtained test and numerical data. The European code was found to result in relatively accurate and consistent resistance predictions for austenitic stainless steel semi-oval hollow section beam-columns with Class 1 and 2 cross-sections, but the resistance predictions for those with Class 3 cross-sections were conservative and scattered. The American specification was shown to offer overall accurate and consistent resistance predictions, but some resistance predictions were marginally unsafe.

Full scale testing of fatigue resistant composite joints for offshore wind Jacket and Floating structures

Complex welds in the joint region reduce the fatigue resistance of structural joints of circular hollow sections with factors that results in increased wall thicknesses of the tubes and overspending of steel in the multi-membered part of the jacket and floating support structures for offshore wind turbines. The wrapped composite joint is a breakthrough technology utilising bonding and fatigue resistant composite material to connect steel tubular members instead of welding. The main technical advantage is that the superior fatigue life of wrapped composite joints. Full-scale wrapped composite joint is tested by cyclic out-of-plane bending loading in resonance-based Cronos testing rig at OCAS N.V. in Belgium. Results reveal exceptional fatigue life of wrapped joints to combined loading when compared to welded joints, showcasing a potential that can radically reduce steel use for offshore structures.

A comprehensive methodology for residual capacity evaluation of damaged steel tubular columns

Steel tubular sections are extensively used in modern-day construction due to their superior structural efficiency and aesthetic appearance. The thin-walled tubular sections are often subjected to accidental loading due to heavy object impact, collision, or improper handling during transportation. Due to induced geometric defects by unanticipated loads, the load-carrying capacity of the section decreases. This study proposes a methodology to estimate the residual capacity of damaged circular and square tubular specimens in axial compression. Initially, the specimen's surface coordinates were obtained in the form of a dense point cloud using a 3D digital image correlation (DIC) setup. Using a linear interpolation function based on Delaunay triangulation, the dense point cloud was regularized into a set of sparsely spaced nodes that would yield computationally efficient finite element (FE) analysis. The interpolation introduced errors at the locations of sharp curvature on the surface. A systematic smoothing (filtering) approach was proposed to minimize the effect of the interpolation error. The proposed methodology was validated against compression tests on five damaged and three as-built specimens, which consisted of circular and square tubular sections. The average residual strength estimated was found to be 93% of the experimental observations.

Abstract 6183: Exploring the role of microenvironment context on diagnostic accuracy in tissue microarray core selection

Abstract Background: Tissue Microarrays (TMAs) stand to significantly improve the efficiency of multiplex spatial studies by including core samples taken from many tumor blocks in a single slide. However, as TMAs become increasingly prevalent, the implication of core selection within the tumor microenvironment (TME) on downstream discoveries is not well understood. This raises the question of which TME contexts are most predictive for scientific analyses. Methods: We segment whole tissue section (WTS) slides with a U-Net trained on pathologist annotations of tumor, DCIS, LCIS, normal, stromal, immune, and necrotic microenvironment contexts in 100 TCGA BRCA slides. We focus on 5-way PAM50 subtype prediction in breast cancer. We produce image embeddings for each core using a vision transformer pre-trained on histopathology images and use an attention-based aggregation model to predict PAM50 subtype. To evaluate the impact of core TME contexts in a held-out test set, we sample 0.6mm radius circular sections from 281 WTS images from 54 patients to produce one dataset of “majority non-cancerous” cores that the TME annotation model predicts as majority normal breast epithelial or necrotic tissue and one “majority cancerous” TMA dataset for the remaining cores. Results: We find that core microenvironment context directly influences diagnostic accuracy. Maximizing tumor content improves diagnostic accuracy on the PAM50 task, with the majority cancerous TMAs obtaining an AUROC of 0.80 (95% confidence interval 0.75-0.85), relative to 0.72 (95% CI 0.66-0.78) for majority non-cancerous TMAs and 0.82 (95% CI 0.80-0.84) for WTS images. Notably, our context-aware TMA sampling achieves accuracy within 2% of the WTS images, while poorly selected TMA cores underperform the WTS baseline by 10% on average. While TCGA is curated to contain patients with a very high tumor burden, and consequently random TMA selection performs well on this cohort (AUROC 0.77; 95% CI 0.74-0.79), our study indicates that tissue context is an important consideration when selecting cores from real donor tissue blocks. Our results demonstrate that TMA core sampling protocols should be informed by TME context to maximize analysis accuracy, and that intelligent core sampling can largely close the gap to WTS image accuracies on clinically-relevant tasks like PAM50 subtype prediction. These findings highlight the need for thoughtful TMA dataset construction and usage, especially as core selection becomes increasingly automated. We argue both for more targeted core selection from donor tissue blocks and for filtering of existing datasets. To avoid performance degradation, pipelines should identify and exclude these less task-relevant TMEs, where simulation serves as an efficient and task-specific approximation of TME context relevance. Citation Format: Addie Woicik, Zachary R. McCaw, Ben Dulken, insitro Research Team, Christopher Probert. Exploring the role of microenvironment context on diagnostic accuracy in tissue microarray core selection [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 6183.

Experimental study on CFRP reinforcement and static performance of CHS KT-joints

Owing to the engineering application demands for the reinforcement of complex joints in multiplanar circular hollow section (CHS) trusses, this study investigated the reinforcement methods and static performance of KT-joints strengthened with carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets. First, CFRP reinforcement strategies for KT-joints were studied. Experimental comparisons in static performances were then conducted between bare and CFRP-strengthened CHS KT-joints. Meanwhile, CFRP reinforcement mechanisms were analysed. Finally, CFRP effective strain index η was proposed for quantitative assessment of CFRP strength utilisation. The results indicated that CFRP effectively restrained chord depression and expansion deformation, prevented local buckling of the compressive brace, and reduced strain concentration near the intersection lines. Compared with the bare joint, the ultimate load-bearing capacity and ductility of the joint reinforced with 4 layers of CFRP sheets on the chord and 3 layers on the braces increased by 24% and 25%, respectively. The initial stiffness of the joint at compressive and tensile brace locations increased by 48% and 375%, respectively. The η varied at different regions of the joint, with the maximum η found near the K-shaped gap and the intersection line of compressive brace. Based on the distribution of η, strategies for improving CFRP strength utilisation were proposed.