Stainless steel girders : resistance to concentrated loads and shear

This paper is a summary of work performed in Sweden since 1998, addressing the resistance of welded I-girders made of stainless steel subjected to concentrated forces or shear. The study on concentrated forces included five tests and a series of numerical simulations. The results from these were compared to the ultimate resistance calculated according to ENV1993-1-1:1992 and ENV 1993-1-5:1997. It was shown that ENV 1993-1-5:1997 is in better agreement with the results from this study than ENV 1993-1-1:1992, and can be used for predicting the resistance to concentrated loads.The experimental part in the area of shear resistance comprised a total of eight tests made of two different steel grades. With support of numerical simulations of the tests and a parametric study, it was concluded that the design procedure with respect to shear in ENV 1993-1-4:1996, Supplementary rules for stainless steel, is too conservative. A design procedure which allows the shear resistance of welded stainless steel girders to be fully utilised was derived. It is similar to the procedure in ENV 1993-1-5:1997 and compared to the one currently in ENV 1993-1-4:1996 it is a large improvement.Godkänd; 2003; 20080604 (ysko