Study on Distortional Buckling of Cold-Formed Stainless Steel Beams

In the current research, distortional buckling of cold-formed stainless steel open-section beams was investigated. Four-point bending tests of eight C-section stainless steel beams, made of S30401 alloy, were carried out with global and local buckling precluded by careful design of specimen and test rigs. A detailed finite element model based on ABAQUS was developed and verified against test data. Parametric study was carried out with the verified model, covering four types of sections (C, Z, SupaCee, and SupaZed), three stainless steel alloys (S30401, S44330, S32101), and a series of section slenderness. A convenient method to identify distortional buckling point in either experimental or numerical study was discussed. Existing design formula for stainless steel and steel structure were assessed with the available data. Revised formula based on Direct Strength Method was proposed