Experimental Investigation of Cold-Formed Stainless Steel Columns

An experimental investigation into the column strength of cold-formed stainless steel rectangular hollow sections is described in this paper. The columns tested displayed four cross-section sizes and were compressed between fixed ends. The tests were performed over a range of column lengths in order to obtain a column curve for each series of tests. The failure modes of the columns involved local buckling, overall flexural buckling, and combined local and overall buckling. The test strengths are compared with the design strengths predicted using the American, Australian/New Zealand, and European specifications for cold-formed stainless steel structures. The design strengths were calculated using the material properties obtained from both tensile coupon and stub column tests. It is concluded that the design strengths predicted by the three specifications are generally conservative. Reliability analysis of the design rules in the three specifications is performed. It is shown that the design strengths predicted by the Australian/New Zealand Standard are generally more reliable than the design strengths predicted by the American and European specifications.