STABILITY OF WELDED STAINLESS STEEL AXIAL COMPRESSIVE MEMBERS AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURES

Although stainless steel structures have been widely utilized in engineering applications, the stability of stainless-steel members at elevated temperatures has received less attention. The fire response of austenitic stainless steel and duplex stainless steel members with welded I-section and with box section due to axial compression is studied numerically by the isothermal analysis method. The influences of different elevated temperature levels, of global slenderness, and of cross-section geometries on the ultimate resistances of welded stainless steel axial compressive members in fire are investigated by means of parametric studies. Additionally, the new design rules of stainless-steel axial compressive members in fire are introduced and compared with the existing experimental and finite element results subsequently, which shows that: the design rules are able to evaluate the ultimate strength of the axial compressive members considered accurately and, furthermore provide an important reference for the fire design of stainless steel structural members in China.