DESIGN OF COLD-FORMED STAINLESS-STEEL TUBULAR MEMBERS .2. BEAMS

The paper presents tests on square and circular stainless steel tubula r beams. An important part of the test program was to quantify the inc rease in bending strength resulting from cold-work during the fabricat ion process. Tension and compression tests on coupons cut from finishe d tubes were also included in the test program. Stress-strain curves f or shear were obtained using the coupon test results and the concept o f affinity factors. A design method is proposed for stainless steel tu bular beams. The method incorporates the increase in strength produced by the cold-rolling process and is validated by comparing it to the t est strengths. Design rules are proposed for the bending and shear str engths and for combined bending and shear. The design procedure propos ed is an extension of that described in the ASCE Specification for the Design of Stainless Steel Structural Members. The paper describes a s imple noniterative method for calculating deflections of stainless ste el tubular beams. The method is suitable for design and is shown to pr oduce deflections that agree closely with tests.