Numerical Simulation and Design of Steel Angle Section Columns

The stability and design of fixed-ended stainless steel equal-leg angle section members subjected to axial compression are studied herein. Existing experimental data on stainless steel equal-leg angle section columns collected from the literature are used for the validation of numerical (shell finite element) models, developed within the commercial package ABAQUS. Validation is performed by means of comparisons between the test and numerical results, considering ultimate loads, failure modes and the load-deformation responses, all of which are shown to be generally in good agreement. A numerical parametric study is then presented considering angle section columns in the three main families of stainless steel (austenitic, ferritic and duplex) with a wide range of slenderness values. The behaviour and normalised load-carrying capacity of the studied members is shown to be dependent on not only the column slenderness, but also the ratio of the elastic torsional-flexural buckling load to the elastic minoraxis flexural buckling load. Finally, a design approach recently proposed for carbon steel angle section columns is extended for application to stainless steel and verified against the experimental and numerical results. The proposed approach offers substantially improved accuracy and consistency in strength predictions compared to the existing codified design rules.