Stability and design of fixed-ended stainless steel unequal-leg angle section columns
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Dai, R
Gardner, L
Wadee, MA
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The stability and design of fixed-ended stainless steel unequal-leg angle section members subjected to axial compression are studied herein. The critical buckling behaviour is first described; existing experimental data on stainless steel and aluminium alloy unequal-leg angle section columns collected from the literature are then employed to validate nonlinear finite element models developed within the commercial package ABAQUS. A comprehensive numerical parametric study is subsequently conducted considering members made from the three main families of stainless steel (austenitic, ferritic and duplex) with a broad spectrum of geometric configurations and slenderness values. The behaviour and load-carrying capacity of the studied columns are shown to depend not only on the global slenderness, but also on the ratio of the elastic torsional-flexural to minor-axis flexural buckling loads. The collected experimental data and generated numerical results are employed to evaluate the ultimate resistance predictions given by the current Eurocode 3 design provisions, revealing an excessive level of conservatism, particularly for cases where torsional-flexural buckling is dominant. A new design approach for fixed-ended stainless steel unequal-leg angle section columns, suitable for incorporation into future revisions of Eurocode 3, is subsequently proposed, reflecting the aforementioned observations. The proposed approach significantly improves the accuracy and consistency of the resistance predictions compared to the current design provisions. Finally, a reliability analysis is conducted following the EN 1990 procedure, resulting in a recommended partial safety factor of 1.1.
Date Issued
2025-12-01
Date Acceptance
2025-09-26
Citation
Structures, 2025, 82
ISSN
2352-0124
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Structures
Volume
82
Copyright Statement
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Institution of Structural Engineers. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
110335
Date Publish Online
2025-10-18