STRUCTURAL BEHAVIOUR OF HOLLOW STEEL SECTIONS UNDER COMBINED AXIAL COMPRESSION AND BENDING

Hollow steel section has been used in variety of structural applications for its specific properties of durability and aesthetic appearance. The behaviour of hollow section under the effect of combined loading has been a significant research and therefore is the subject of the present study. This paper examines the behaviour of hot rolled hollow steel sections subjected to combined axial compression and bending. Numerical investigation has been carried out on various cross sections of rectangular hollow section (RHS), circular hollow section (CHS) and elliptical hollow section (EHS). In general, numerical analyses were performed including 12 pure axial compression loading, 24 uniaxial bending plus axial loading and 24 biaxial bending plus axial loading. Eccentricities for uniaxial and biaxial loading were varied to provide a wide range of possible values. Parametric studies have been done to predict section capacity of the cross sections to evaluate the codal provision given in Indian Standard 800:2007 and European code 1993-1-1-2005. The results from the numerical investigation on comparison with the predicted strength capacity of the cross sections from the codes represent consistency and have given good level of accuracy.