Development, Behaviour and Design of LiteSteel Beams

Smorgon Steel Tube Mills has recently developed a new hollow flange channel section, named as LiteSteel Beam (LSB) using its patented dual electric resistance welding techniques. The new section is primarily intended for use as flexural members, targeting applications in the light industrial, commercial and domestic markets. In order to fully understand the structural behaviour of the new section including its section and member moment capacities and local and lateral distortional buckling behaviour, a detailed investigation into their flexural member behaviour was undertaken using large scale experiments and finite element analyses. This paper presents the essential details of large scale bending tests to determine LSBs’ section and member moment capacities and associated finite element models suitable for buckling and non-linear analyses of the LSB flexural members. The developed finite element model accurately predicts both the elastic lateral distortional buckling and ultimate moment capacities of the new sections. It was used in the development of design curves and design rules for the new LSB sections, which are presented in this paper