Abstract
Columns play a critical role in any steel-framed building and, through compression, transfer loads from the elements above to the supporting base. Due to structural failures of compression members, an investigation of the various design methods that are available is presented in this document. With the recent tendency for design codes in South Africa to migrate to the Eurocodes, as seen in the SANS 10160 series [1], it is reasonable to assume that the SANS 10162-2 might be revised based on the Eurocode 3 design procedures. For the design of cold-formed steel compression members, an overestimation may cause increased financial costs and, conversely, an underestimation may cause structural failures. However, there is an urgent need for the body of knowledge to be expanded. Therefore, this research presents the evaluation of buckling capacities of five different column lengths using five different methods: 1) experimental tests; 2) Eurocode 3; 3) SANS 10162-2 through the Direct Strength Method (DSM); 4) simplified Finite Element Analysis (FEA), i.e. only beam modelling elements; and 5) finely graded FEA, i.e. plate modelling elements. All columns have a 75 x 50 x 20 x 2.0 (h x b x c x t mm) cold-formed lipped channel cross-section...
M.Ing. (Structural Engineering)