Numerical Studies on the Flexural Behaviour of Rectangular Hollow Flange Cold Formed Steel Sections

Authors

  • P.S.Kumar, Dhamodhara Kannan

Abstract

In this study, a detailed nonlinear finite element (FE) analysis was performed to investigate the flexural behaviour of rectangular hollow flange cold-formed steel (CFS) sections. In total, five finite element models of rectangular hollow flange sections were developed and validated with the benchmark experiments. Finite element analysis consists of two phases which include (i) a detailed elastic buckling analysis and (ii) a nonlinear static finite element analysis.  A detailed parametric analysis was conducted using the validated FE model to understand the influence of various parameters such as (a) flange aspect ratio, (b) web depth to developed length ratio, (c) section thickness, and (d) development length. In addition, the suitability of the direct strength method was carried out to estimate the ultimate moment capacity of hollow flange sections. The load-displacement behaviour and failure modes obtained from the FE analysis correlated well with the experiments. Moreover, the results from the parametric study were useful in optimising the design parameters for the rectangular hollow flange CFS sections under flexure. The ultimate moment predicted from the direct strength method correlated well with both the experiment and FE analysis.

Keywords- Cold-Formed Steel; Direct Strength Method; Flexure; Finite Element Analysis; Rectangular Hollow Flange Beams.

Published

2020-11-30

Issue

Section

Articles