Buckling behavior of stainless steel square hollow columns under eccentric loadings

This study involves a series of experiments on the buckling strength of eccentrically compressed cold-formed stainless steel square hollow-section columns. The principal parameters in this study are slenderness ratios (Lk/r = 30, 50, 70) and magnitude of eccentricity e (0, 25, 50, 75, 100 mm) on the symmetrical end-moment. The objectives of this paper are to obtain the buckling loads by conducting a series of experiments and to compare the behavior of the eccentrically compressed cold-formed stainless steel square hollow-section columns with the results of the analysis. The ultimate buckling strength of the square-section members were determined with the use of a numerical method in accordance with the bending moment-axial force (M-P) interaction curves. The behavior of each specimen was displayed in the form of a moment-radian (M- ) relationship. The numerically obtained ultimate-buckling interaction curves of the beam columns coincided with the results of the experiments.