12.03: Buckling curves for stainless steel tubular columns

Towards the development of more resilient and sustainable structures, interest in the use of high performance construction materials, such as stainless steels, has increased in recent years. Recent studies [1] have highlighted a number of deficiencies in the flexural buckling provisions given in Eurocode 3: Part 1.4 for the design of stainless steel compression members. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of production route (cold-formed and hot-finished) and material grade (austenitic, duplex and ferritic) on the behaviour and design of stainless steel square and rectangular hollow section columns. Test data from the literature combined with numerical modelling data generated as part of this study are used to derive a series of buckling curves for the design of stainless steel columns. Reliability analysis in accordance with Annex D of EN 1990 has been carried out to show that the proposed buckling curves comply with the Eurocode reliability requirements.