Web Crippling Behaviour of Cold‐formed Stainless Steel Beams with Non‐Circular Web Opening

In recent years cold form stainless steels members are becoming the most popular and widely used structural steel member in the construction industry due to their notable corrosion resistance, recycling option, aesthetically pleasing, and the favourable material properties. However, web crippling behavior and the capacity of unlipped channel sections with non‐circular web openings (Square, rectangular and elliptical) has not been investigated sufficiently. Hence, a numerical analyses was undertaken to investigate the web crippling behavior and strength of cold‐form stainless steel unlipped channel beams with non‐circular web openings. Finite element models of cold‐form ferritic stainless steel unlipped channel with offset circular web openings were developed under the interior‐two‐flange (ITF) and external‐two‐flanges (ETF) loading conditions. They were validated with currently available web crippling test results and a detailed parametric study was undertaken to develop an extensive web crippling strength database. Numerical results showed that the currently available reduction factor equations of circular web opening are either conservative or unsafe to use for the non‐circular opening. Hence, numerical results were then used to develop a reduction factor to the web crippling capacities of cold‐formed stainless steel beams with the solid web.