Design of Aluminum Alloy Flexural Members Using Direct Strength Method
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 135, Issue 5
Abstract
This paper presents the experimental and numerical investigation of aluminum alloy flexural members. The tests were performed on ten different sizes of square hollow sections subjected to pure bending. Material properties of each specimen were obtained from tensile coupon tests. A nonlinear finite-element model was developed and verified against the pure bending tests. Stress-strain relationships obtained from tensile coupon tests were incorporated in the finite-element model. The verified finite-element model was used for a parametric study of aluminum alloy beams of square hollow sections. A comparison of the experimental and numerical bending strengths with the design strengths calculated using the current American, Australian/New Zealand, and European specifications for aluminum structures was presented. The bending strengths were also compared with the design strengths predicted by the direct strength method, which was developed for cold-formed carbon steel members. Design rules were proposed for aluminum alloy square hollow section beams based on the current direct strength method. Reliability analysis was performed to evaluate the reliability of the design rules.
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Acknowledgments
The test specimens were sponsored by the Asia Aluminum Manufacturing Company. The writers are grateful to Mr. Wai-Chung Wong for his assistance in the experimental program as part of his final year undergraduate research project at The University of Hong Kong. The tests were conducted at the Structural Engineering Laboratory, The University of Hong Kong. The research work described in this paper was also supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (Project No. 50808126).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 135 • Issue 5 • May 2009
Pages: 558 - 566
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 25, 2008
Accepted: Oct 25, 2008
Published online: May 1, 2009
Published in print: May 2009
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