Simplified design approach for cold-formed stainless steel compression members subjected to flexural buckling

The design criteria of stainless steel compression member are more complicated than those of carbon steels due to the nonlinear stress strain behavior of the material. In general, the tangent modulus theory is used for the design of cold-formed stainless steel columns. The modified Ramberg-Osgood equation given in the ASCE Standard can be used to determine the tangent modulus at specified level of stresses. However, it is often tedious and time-consuming to determine the column buckling stress because several iterations are usually needed in the calculation. This paper presents new formulations to simplify the determination of flexural buckling stress without iterative process. Taylor series expansion theory is utilized in the study for numerical approximations. The proposed design formulas are presented herein and can be alternatively used to calculate the flexural buckling stress for austenitic type of cold-formed stainless steel columns. It is shown that the column strengths determined by using the proposed design formulas have good agreement with those calculated by using the ASCE Standard Specification. A design example is also included in the paper for cold-formed stainless steel column designed by using the ASCE Standard equations and the proposed design formulas. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.