BEHAVIOR OF CONCENTRICALLY LOADED AUSTENITIC STAINLESS STEEL SINGLE UNEQUAL-LEG ANGLES

Abstract

1.1 Motivation Stainless steels have been widely used in a variety of applications for many years. The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) has provided guidelines on how to implement stainless steel members as part of structural systems. Of particular interest are single angles which are frequently used as braces, tension members, struts, lintels, and as part of built-up sections. However, knowledge concerning the behavior of single unequal-leg stainless steel angles is very limited. 1.2 Scope and Objectives The objective of this research was to study the behavior and failure modes of concentrically loaded austenitic stainless steel single unequal-leg angles through a series of experiments. The results obtained were then compared to the current AISC 370: Specification for Structural Stainless Steel Buildings design provisions. The goal is to expand the limited research on the behavior of this asymmetric shape. 1.3 Thesis Outline This thesis is a synthesis of two sections, each summarizing one aspect of the overall project. The first section contains material of a journal paper that has been submitted for review and the second section summarizes the work that will be implemented in a future publication. The following is a brief summary of the content provided in each chapter of this thesis. Chapter 2 presents the results of a literature review which introduces the design provisions for single angles and the findings obtained by other researchers during their experimental tests on equal-leg and unequal-leg single angles.

Chapter 3 discusses the experimental investigation of hot-rolled stainless steel unequalleg single angles subjected to concentric compression and details how these experiments were conducted. Also, it presents the results obtained from tests done to determine the material properties and the results from the initial geometric imperfection measurements. This chapter finalizes with a comparison of the results obtained to the current AISC 370 design provisions. Chapter 4 contains details on the experimental investigation of laser-fused stainless steel unequal-leg single angles subjected to concentric compression. Similar to Chapter 3, it presents the results obtained from the material characterization of the tested cross-section. Chapter 5 presents a summary of the experimental investigations and the conclusions of the research work done for this thesis.