Recommendations for cold-formed RHS in bending and compression

摘要

Current design rules for classifying RHS in bending and compression are based on tests of I-sections. It has been previously shown that this approach is not appropriate for RHS in bending, as there is flange-web interaction which ought to be included in design recommendations. This paper collates the experimental and finite element data from two CIDECT research projects and proposes several possible new slender-ness limits for Class 1 RHS webs under bending and compression. One formulation previously given involves the inclusions of both flange web interaction and the destabilising effect of axial compression on the Class 1 limit. The alternative presented in this paper gives a simplified classification method which ignores the effect of flange-web interaction. The effect of this simplification is discussed.