Behaviour and Design of I-Shaped Aluminium Sections

Abstract

Aluminium alloys exhibit a non-linear stress–strain material response with significant strain-hardening effects. Whereas the latter shall be considered in the design of aluminium elements, they are largely ignored in most design codes, such as Eurocode 9 and the Canadian Standards. Preliminary studies on typical aluminium I-shapes indeed indicated that as much as 40% extra resistance could be reached through more accurate and appropriate design recommendations. Accordingly, an original design approach based on the Overall Interaction Concept (O.I.C.) is developed to better account for the actual behaviour of aluminium structural shapes. In this respect, non-linear finite element models are developed within ABAQUS and further validated against experimental data. Subsequently, comprehensive parametric studies are performed to collect numerical reference results, and comparisons are performed with resistance predictions from well-known design standards. The performance of the newly developed O.I.C.-based design approach is shown to significantly improve accuracy, safety, consistency, and reliability levels.

Keywords

• Overall Interaction Concept
• aluminium alloy
• I-section shapes
• local buckling