Behavior of columns in “I” welded profile of ultra high strength steels under flexo-compression in relation to the strong and weak axes of inertia
Ultra high strength steel, structural analysis, beam-columns, buckling curves, interaction equations.
The use of steel in civil construction is essential and indispensable, since this material has excellent qualities, such as resistance, malleability, durability and elasticity, in addition to the benefits related to the mitigation of environmental impacts. With the technological advance experienced in the decades, it has been possible to obtain ultra high strength steels, also called advanced steels, which have resistance two to three times greater than conventional steels. The use of these steels in civil construction enhances the aforementioned characteristics, mainly with the possibility of obtaining lighter, taller and slender structures. However, this topic is still little explored, meaning that there is little technical and scientific knowledge about the behavior of structures with this type of steel. Therefore, the aim of the present work is to analyze the behavior of columns with 690 MPa and 960 MPa ultra high strength steels under combined axial compression force and bending moment in relation to the strong and weak axes of inertia, in order to elucidate their behavior. A non-commercial program called PPLANLEP that performs advanced analysis based on the finite element method will be used in order to analyze the behavior of beam-columns considering geometric and material nonlinearities. It is expected that the results obtained will allow the evaluation of the adequacy of the buckling curves and the equations of interaction of axial force of compression and bending moment prescribed in technical standards ABNT NBR 8800: 2008 and EN 1993-1-1: 2005 with respect to dimensioning of ultra high strength beam-columns. Finally, it is also expected to propose the adaptation of the current Brazilian code to the design of these structural elements with ultra high strength steels.