Finite element modelling of back-to-back built-up cold-formed stainless-steel lipped channels under axial compression

Krishanu Roy,Hieng Ho Lau,James B.P. Lim 국제구조공학회 2019 Steel and Composite Structures, An International J Vol.33 No.1

In cold-formed steel structures, such as trusses, wall frames and portal frames, the use of back-to-back built-up cold-formed stainless-steel lipped channels as compression members are becoming increasingly popular. The advantages of using stainless-steel as structural members are corrosion resistance and durability, compared with carbon steel. The AISI/ASCE Standard, SEI/ASCE-8-02 and AS/NZS do not include the design of stainless-steel built-up channels and very few experimental tests or finite element analyses have been reported in the literature for such back-to back cold-formed stainless-steel channels. Current guidance by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the Australian and New Zealand (AS/NZS) standards for built-up carbon steel sections only describe a modified slenderness approach, to consider the spacing of the intermediate fasteners. Thus, this paper presents a numerical investigation on the behavior of back-to-back cold-formed stainless-steel built-up lipped channels. Three different grades of stainless steel i.e., duplex EN1.4462, ferritic EN1.4003 and austenitic EN1.4404 have been considered. Effect of screw spacing on the axial strength of such built-up channels was investigated. As expected, most of the short and intermediate columns failed by either local-global or local-distortional buckling interactions, whereas the long columns, failed by global buckling. All three grades of stainless-steel stub columns failed by local buckling. A comprehensive parametric study was then carried out covering a wide range of slenderness and different cross-sectional geometries to assess the performance of the current design guidelines by AISI and AS/NZS. In total, 647 finite element models were analyzed. From the results of the parametric study, it was found that the AISI & AS/NZS are conservative by around 10 to 20% for cold-formed stainless-steel built-up lipped channels failed through overall buckling, irrespective of the stainless-steel grades. However, the AISI and AS/NZS can be un-conservative by around 6% for all three grades of stainless-steel built-up channels, which failed by local buckling.

Axial capacity of back-to-back built-up cold-formed stainless steel unlipped channels-Numerical investigation and parametric study

Krishanu Roy,Hieng Ho Lau,Zhiyuan Fang,Abdeliazim Mustafa Mohamed Ahmed,James B.P. Lim 국제구조공학회 2021 Steel and Composite Structures, An International J Vol.40 No.5

In cold-formed steel structures, such as trusses, wall frames and portal frames, the use of back-to-back built-up cold-formed stainless steel unlipped channels as compression members are becoming popular. The advantages of using stainless steel as structural members are corrosion resistance and durability, compared with carbon steel. Current guidance by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the Australian and New Zealand (AS/NZS) standards for built-up carbon steel sections describes a modified slenderness approach, to consider the spacing of the intermediate fasteners. The AISI and AS/NZS do not include the design of stainless-steel built-up channels and very few experimental tests or finite element (FE) analyses have been reported in the literature for such back-to-back cold-formed stainless steel unlipped channel section columns. This paper presents a numerical investigation on the behavior of back-to-back built-up cold-formed stainless steel unlipped channel section columns. Three different grades of stainless steel i.e., duplex EN1.4462, ferritic EN1.4003 and austenitic EN1.4404, were considered. The effects of screw spacing on the axial strength of such built-up unlipped channels were investigated. As expected, most of the short and intermediate columns failed by either local-global or local-distortional buckling interactions, whereas the long columns failed by global buckling. All three grades of stainless-steel stub columns failed by local buckling. A comprehensive parametric study was then carried out covering a wide range of slenderness and different cross-sectional geometries to assess the performance of the current design guidelines of carbon steel built-up sections in accordance with the AISI and AS/NZS. In total, 647 FE models were analyzed. From the results of the parametric study, it was found that the AISI and AS/NZS are conservative by around 14 to 20% for all three grades of stainless steel built-up unlipped channel section columns failed through global buckling. However, the AISI and AS/NZS carbon steel design rules can be un-conservative by around 8 to 13%, when they are used to calculate the axial capacity of those stainless steel built-up unlipped channels which are failed in local buckling.

Cold-Formed Steel Lipped Channel Section Columns Undergoing Local-Overall Buckling Interaction

Krishanu Roy,Tina Chui Huon Ting,Hieng Ho Lau,Rehan Masood,Rayed Alyousef,Hisham Alabduljabbar,Abdulaziz Alaskar,Fahed Alrshoudi,James B. P. Lim 한국강구조학회 2021 International Journal of Steel Structures Vol.21 No.2

This paper presents an experimental and fi nite element (FE) investigation into the local-overall buckling interaction behaviour of axially loaded cold-formed steel (CFS) channel section columns. Current design guidelines from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the Australian and New Zealand Standards (AS/NZS) recommend the use of a non-dimensional strength curve for determining the axial capacity of such CFS channel section columns. This study has reviewed the accuracy of the current AISI (2016), AS/NZS (2018) and Eurocode (EN 1993-1-3) design guidelines for determining the axial capacity of CFS channel sections under local-overall buckling interaction failure. A total of 40 tests were conducted on CFS channel sections covering stub, short, intermediate, and slender columns with varying thicknesses. A nonlinear FE model was then developed and validated against the test results. The validated FE model was used to conduct a parametric study comprising 70 FE models to review the accuracy of the current design guidelines in accordance with AISI (2016), AS/NZS (2018) and Eurocode (EN 1993-1-3). It was found that the AISI (2016) and AS/NZS (2018) are conservative by 10 to 15% on average when determining the axial capacity of pin-ended CFS channel section columns undergoing local-overall buckling interaction. Eurocode (EN 1993-1-3) design rules were found to lead to considerably more conservative predictions of column axial load capacity for CFS channels.This paper has therefore proposed modifi cations to the current design rules of AISI (2016) and AS/NZS (2018). The accuracy of proposed design rules was verifi ed using the FE analysis and test results of CFS channel section columns undergoing local-overall buckling interaction.

Nonlinear behavior of axially loaded back-to-back built-up cold-formed steel un-lipped channel sections

Krishanu Roy,Tina Chui Huon Ting,Hieng Ho Lau,James B.P. Lim 국제구조공학회 2018 Steel and Composite Structures, An International J Vol.28 No.2

Back-to-back built-up cold-formed steel un-lipped channel sections are used in cold-formed steel structures; such as trusses, wall frames and portal frames. In such built-up columns, intermediate fasteners resist the buckling of individual channelsections. No experimental tests or finite element analyses have been reported in the literature for back-to-back built-up coldformed steel un-lipped channel sections and specially investigated the effect of screw spacing on axial strength of such columns. The issue is addressed in this paper. The results of 95 finite element analyses are presented covering stub to slender columns. The finite element model is validated against the experimental tests recently conducted by authors for back-to-back built-up cold-formed steel lipped channel sections. The verified finite element model is then used for the purposes of a parametric study to investigate the effect of screw spacing on axial strength of back-to-back built-up cold-formed steel un-lipped channel sections. Results are compared against the built-up lipped channel sections and it is shown that the axial strength of un-lipped built-up sections are 31% lesser on average than the built-up lipped channel sections. It was also found that the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the Australian and New Zealand Standards were over-conservative by around 15% for built-up columns failed through overall buckling, however AISI and AS/NZS were un-conservative by around 8% for built-up columns mainly failed by local buckling.

An analytical study on the static vertical stiffness of wire rope isolators

P. S. Balaji,Leblouba Moussa,M. E. Rahman,Lau Hieng Ho 대한기계학회 2016 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.30 No.1

The vibrations caused by earthquake ground motions or the operations of heavy machineries can affect the functionality of equipmentand cause damages to the hosting structures and surrounding equipment. A Wire rope isolator (WRI), which is a type of passive isolatorknown to be effective in isolating shocks and vibrations, can be used for vibration isolation of lightweight structures and equipment. Theprimary advantage of the WRI is that it can provide isolation in all three planes and in any orientation. The load-supporting capability ofthe WRI is identified from the static stiffness in the loading direction. Static stiffness mainly depends on the geometrical and materialproperties of the WRI. This study develops an analytical model for the static stiffness in the vertical direction by using Castigliano’s secondtheorem. The model is validated by using the experimental results obtained from a series of monotonic loading tests. The flexuralrigidity of the wire ropes required in the model is obtained from the transverse bending test. Then, the analytical model is used to conducta parametric analysis on the effects of wire rope diameter, width, height, and number of turns (loops) on vertical stiffness. The wire ropediameter influences stiffness more than the other geometric parameters. The developed model can be accurately used for the evaluationand design of WRIs.

Effect of Stressed-skin Action on Optimal Design of Cold-formed Steel Square And Rectangular-shaped Portal Frame Buildings

Andrzej M. Wrzesien,Duoc T. Phan,James B.P. Lim,Hieng-Ho Lau,Iman Hajirasouliha,Cher Siang Tan 한국강구조학회 2016 International Journal of Steel Structures Vol.16 No.2

Cold-formed steel (CFS) portal frames can be a viable alternative to conventional hot-rolled steel portal frames. They are commonly used for low-rise commercial, light industrial and agricultural buildings. In this paper, the effect of stressed-skin action on the optimum design of CFS portal frames is investigated by conducting a minimum cost design optimisation on a building of span of 6 m, height-to-eaves of 3 m and frame spacing of 3 m; the effect of different number of bays are considered. For the purpose of this study, it is assumed that gables are rigid.The effect of stressed-skin action is larger for“square-shaped” buildings (i.e. when the span and length are the same on plan) and decreases as more bays are added(i.e. as the building becomes more “rectangular-shaped” on plan). The results of the minimum cost optimisation indicate that if stressed-skin action is taken into account, the cost of the internal frame can be reduced by around half for “square-shaped” buildings. It should be noted that this is a minimum cost optimisation, which is not the same as a minimum weight optimisation. It is also shown that a safe design of internal frames could be obtained by ignoring wind loads (i.e. designing the frame only for gravity loads),but this is limited to buildings having a “square-shape”.