Numerical Simulations of High Strength Steel Box-Shaped Columns (No. R842)

Abstract

An experimental research project was conducted to evaluate the compression stability of high strength steel sections. To further study the structural behaviour of the columns thoroughly, finite element analyses were performed using the commercial finite element package ABAQUS. This report presents a finite element analysis of the post-buckling behaviour of thin-walled compression members of high strength steel. A series of numerical simulations has been carried out to simulate compression tests performed on box-shaped stub columns and box-shaped long columns fabricated from coldreduced high strength steel plates with nominal yield stress of 550 MPa (AS1397). The report compares the numerical simulations with the test results. The effect of the input parameters such as the degree of prescribed initial imperfection and the size of the element mesh on the convergence of the solution has been investigated and is discussed. The report shows the comparison of loads obtained numerically and experimentally. The accurate results of the numerical simulation shows that the finite element analysis can be used to predict the ultimate loads of thin-walled members including the postbuckling behaviour of thin-walled sections. It is demonstrated that the finite element analysis can therefore be used to design and optimize thin-walled section of high strength steel and to extrapolate beyond existing experimental data.