Reliability of Existing and Proposed North American Design Provisions for RHS Compression Members with Slender Elements

• Published in: Journal of structural engineering (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 148; no. 8
• Main Authors: Tousignant, Kyle, Tayyebi, Kamran, Sun, Min
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York American Society of Civil Engineers 01-08-2022
• Subjects: Approximation; Column strength; Compressive strength; Design modifications; Finite element method; Hollow sections; Reliability analysis; Resistance factors; Slenderness ratio; Structural engineering; Technical Papers; Thickness
• ISSN: 0733-9445; 1943-541X
• DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0003430

AbstractDesign provisions for axially compressed rectangular hollow section (RHS) members with slender elements were evaluated using an approximate first-order reliability method analysis. A total of 342 nonlinear finite-element models, covering a range of width-to-thickness, height-to-thickness, and nondimensional slenderness ratios, were developed and analyzed. Calculated ranges of reliability indexes (β+) were computed and compared with β+ values obtained from the expanded separation factor approach and with target values in codes. The results showed that the Canadian Standards Association (CSA S16:19) design provisions for locally slender RHS compression members are imprecise, resulting in underpredictions of column strength by as much as 22%. AISC 360-16 design provisions, and a recently proposed modified CSA approach were shown to be better predictors. Considering all 342 columns together, the current resistance factor of ϕ=0.9 was shown to be acceptable in both codes.