A Study on Cold-Formed Stainless Steel Perforated Hollow Stub Columns

A numerical investigation on cold-formed ferritic stainless steel hollow columns with perforation at mid-height was accomplished using Finite Element (FE) Analysis. The cold-formed ferritic stainless steel hollow columns offer high resistance to compression, bending and torsion. Perforations help in optimizing the material utility effectively. ABAQUS software is used to carry out the FE modelling. The cross-sectional dimensions for the parametric study were selected in accordance with the sizes available in the market such that wide range of perforation diameter to flat width ratio for different cross-sections can be achieved. Different width to thickness ratio for various cross-sections shows noteworthy effects in the strength of the columns. In the estimation of the elastic flexural buckling stress, the effects of perforations was considered in accordance with the guidelines provided in the AISI S100-2016. The axial compression capacity of the specimens was also predicted by Direct Strength Method (DSM) adopted in North American Specification AISI S100-2016. The results computed by existing DSM equations were compared with the numerical analysis strengths and the conclusions were drawn.