Mechanical properties of roller bent wide flange sections — Part 1: Experimental investigation

Arched roofs are built more and more with roller bent wide flange sections, serving as structural elements. Roller bent wide flange sections are manufactured from straight hot-rolled wide flange sections by a process called roller bending. The material is cold worked during forming, inducing a new distribution of mechanical properties across the section which is different compared to its original state. For the design of arches the use of original or nominal strength properties of the straight material neglects the influence of the roller bending process. This may lead to conservative or nonconservative designs. This paper presents the results of an extensive experimental investigation of the mechanical properties of roller bent wide flange sections. It comprises tensile tests and compression tests on coupons taken from roller bent sections and their straight counterparts. The results show that the roller bending process alters the mechanical properties of the material non-uniformly over the cross-section. In this paper the experimental results are presented. In a companion paper the experimental results are used to arrive at a set of equations that yields different stress-strain curves for specific zones across the roller bent steel section.     

Finite element simulations of residual stresses in roller bent wide flange sections

Curved structural wide flange steel sections are frequently used in buildings or bridges. These sections are usually curved at ambient temperatures with a roller bending machine. This process alters the residual stress distribution, which may affect the elasto-plastic buckling behavior of arches. This paper presents a numerical modeling technique to estimate residual stresses in curved wide flange sections manufactured by the pyramid roller bending process. The technique incorporates material non-linearity, geometrical non-linearity and contact modeling. Numerically obtained residual stresses are compared to experimental results and good agreement was found for the top flange. Only moderate agreement was observed for the web but very good coherence was realized for the bottom flange. It is concluded that a finite element analysis can be used to estimate residual stresses in roller bent wide flange sections.     

Experimental investigation of residual stresses in roller bent wide flange steel sections

Residual stresses in straight hot rolled wide flange sections are well documented and have been investigated in the recent past. However, to the knowledge of the authors, residual stress measurements have not been published on roller bent wide flange sections. Straight sections are curved into roller bent ones at ambient temperatures by means of the roller bending process. Since roller bent sections underwent severe plastic deformation during the forming process, the well-known residual stress patterns from hot rolling may not be appropriate for the roller bent steel. Roller bent sections can be applied in halls, roofings and bridges, thereby acting as structural arches and it is important that a realistic residual stress pattern is implemented when assessing their load carrying capacity. An experimental program has been carried out to investigate the residual stresses in roller bent wide flange sections bent about the strong axis. Residual stresses were measured with the sectioning method. The experimental technique was investigated with respect to possible temperature influence and repeatability of the measurements. Experimental values revealed that the residual stress pattern and magnitude in roller bent sections is different when compared to their straight counterparts.     

Proposed residual stress model for roller bent steel wide flange sections

The manufacturing process of structural wide flange steel sections introduces residual stresses in the material. These stresses due to hot-rolling or welding influence the inelastic buckling response of structural steel members and need to be taken into account in the design. Based on experimental data standardized residual stress models have been proposed for inclusion in inelastic buckling analyses. By incorporating these residual stress models their effect on the resistance of beams and columns can be obtained. Residual stress models for roller bent steel sections are currently not available. Roller bent wide flange sections are manufactured by curving straight members at ambient temperature. This manufacturing technique, which is also known as roller bending, stresses the material beyond its yield stress, thereby overriding the initial residual stresses prior to bending and generating an entirely new pattern. This paper proposes a residual stress model for roller bent wide flange sections, based on earlier conducted numerical investigations which were validated by experimental research performed at Eindhoven University of Technology. The proposed residual stress model can serve as an initial state of a roller bent steel section in fully non-linear finite element analyses to accurately predict its influence on the inelastic buckling response.     

Shear resistance of longitudinally stiffened panels — Part 2: Numerical parametric study

This paper presents the FE analysis of the influence of different parameters on the shear resistance of panels with different arrangements of longitudinal stiffeners. The studied parameters were the stiffener bending stiffness, the panel aspect ratio, the stiffener position, the web slenderness and the flange rigidity. Longitudinal stiffeners of trapezoidal shape were compared to open T-stiffeners. The former proved to be more efficient, since a larger panel resistance is achieved, for which in addition a smaller stiffness of trapezoidal stiffeners is needed. Different features of the new Eurocode rules were verified against the FEA results as well. Three different procedures for the determination of panel slenderness were tested and the reduction of stiffener bending stiffness, prescribed due to a better correlation with tests on open stiffeners, was verified for both closed and open stiffeners. The influence of bending moment was also considered and the verification of shear and bending interaction was discussed. Finally, the flange contribution to shear resistance was critically analysed.     

Mechanical behavior of ferritic grade 3Cr12 stainless steel—Part 2: Yield locus and hardening laws

In practice, the finite element method is quite successful in simulating the metal forming processes or the structural behavior of members carrying loads. The accuracy of such models largely depends on the mechanical laws used to describe the material behavior. Numerous authors have shown the effect of material anisotropy on deep drawing or the influence of non-linear hardening behavior on the resistance of structural members. Studies have also demonstrated how important the evaluation of the material parameters is during the theoretical calculation of the strength of stainless steel members for instance. Non-linear metallic materials emerge as an alternative to elastic perfectly plastic materials, be it for their stainless, ductility or strength properties. It is thus necessary to be able to accurately model their material behavior. In the present paper, prior to any computations, different laws are described: simple phenomenological law and micro–macro constitutive models based on crystal plasticity. Classical yield surface such as Hill one are combined with isotropic (Swift or Ramberg–Osgood) and kinematic (Armstrong–Frederick or Teodosiu–Hu) hardening models to define the material behavior. The material parameters included in each law are then carefully identified. For that purpose, the experimental equipment developed by Flores [3] (2005) in the Structures Laboratory of the University of Liège was used to perform biaxial tests. Coupled with classical uniaxial tests, they provide the necessary data for the identification of the yield locus and the hardening models.