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Stainless steel is now widely used in construction as structural members in recognition to its unique beneficial properties such as corrosion resistance, higher strength, ductility, and negligible maintenance cost. Recent research on stainless steel has led to the evolution of a deformation based design rule, the Continuous Strength Method (CSM), which has been shown to perform well in predicting cross-sectional resistances but still requires considerable research to be used in predicting member resistances. The current paper proposes a new design method for lateral-torsional buckling (LTB) behaviour of welded stainless steel I-sections combining CSM design philosophy and traditional Perry-type concept used for column buckling. As part of the numerical study presented herein, nonlinear finite element (FE) models were developed and validated using available test results. Once the FE modelling technique was validated, a large number of reliable numerical results were generated to investigate effects of various factors on the resistance of members subjected to LTB. Obtained results showed that the cross-section slenderness λ ¯ p and the non-dimensional proof stress e have significant influences on LTB resistance. Effects of e was appropriately incorporated by introducing a correction factor to modify λ ¯ p . As LTB curves were mostly affected by λ ¯ p , it was included in the equation for calculating imperfection parameter η csm,LT , which is a key parameter to include member imperfections in Perry-type design equations. This new approach ensures appropriate utilization of strain hardening for stocky cross-sections and allows to avoid the complex process of calculating effective geometric properties for slender sections. All available test and generated numerical results were used to assess the performance the current European, the Australian and the proposed CSM based design rules for LTB. Comparisons clearly showed that the proposed approach performed significantly well in predicting the LTB response of stainless steel I-sections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Continuous Strength Method (CSM) is a recently developed strain based design technique that produces accurate predictions for cross-section resistances for stocky sections against individual and combined actions. This paper numerically investigates the behaviour slender stainless steel cross-sections subjected to combined loading i.e. compression plus bending. Generated numerical results and available test results were used to develop CSM formulations to tackle the conservatism shown by the current international codes in predicting resistances of slender sections. Keeping the basic design philosophy in line with the current CSM design technique, interaction equations are re-calibrated herein for slender stainless steel hollow sections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends the scope of the Continuous Strength Method (CSM), which has recently been proposed for stocky sections, to include slender stainless steel sections. A new parameter called the Equivalent Elastic Deformation Capacity is introduced to tackle the significant post-buckling deformation observed in slender sections. A comprehensive finite element study was carried out to supplement limited number of available test results. Obtained FE results and available test evidences were used to propose design guidelines for compression and bending. The performance of the proposed technique was compared against EC3 guidelines, which showed good agreement with test and FE results with an acceptable level of reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]