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Lateral torsional buckling behaviour of tapered steel section with web opening – finite element analysis

Fatimah De’nan (School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia - Engineering Campus Seri Ampangan, Nibong Tebal, Seberang Perai Selatan, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia)
Nor Salwani Hashim (School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia - Engineering Campus Seri Ampangan, Nibong Tebal, Seberang Perai Selatan, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia)
Ngo Siew Ting (School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia - Engineering Campus Seri Ampangan, Nibong Tebal, Seberang Perai Selatan, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia)

World Journal of Engineering

ISSN: 1708-5284

Article publication date: 28 April 2023

45

Abstract

Purpose

Recently, this steel section has found increasing popularity in residential, industrial and commercial buildings with their high load-carrying capacity due to the nature of high strength to weight ratio properties. However, the rise on the price of steel section should be more emphasized; therefore, the optimization in steel section design is needed to overcome the issue of material cost. As such, tapered steel sections save on material use, while the introduction of web openings allows the placement of mechanical and electrical services, plumbing and also aesthetic design considerations.

Design/methodology/approach

The purpose of this study is to investigate the lateral torsional buckling behavior of a tapered steel section with an ellipse-shaped opening by analyzing its structural parameters. To achieve this, the finite element analysis (FEA) of the section is modeled using LUSAS software, which allows for a detailed analysis of the section's behavior under varying loads and conditions. It involves the variation in web opening size, opening layout, opening rotation angle and the tapering ratio. Eigenvalue buckling analysis is adopted to know the parametric effects of each 108 model. The size of opening varies from 0.2 to 0.5 d of the total depth where the opening located. There are three type of layouts applied in this study, which are the layouts A, B and C. There are three types of rotation angles for the ellipse-shaped opening, including the non-rotated vertical opening and two additional types formed by rotating the opening 45 degrees clockwise and counterclockwise around the center-point of the ellipse. A fixed-free boundary condition was applied, resulting in a simulation of a cantilever beam. The models are fixed at one end with a larger depth, and free at the other end with a smaller depth. Loading condition is an application of 10 kN/m uniform distributed load in the direction of gravity along the mid-span of the top flange.

Findings

It is observed that the model 82 with Layout A, tapering ratio 0.3, opening size 0.5 d and opening rotated in 45 degree anti-clockwise direction results in the highest structural efficiency among the 108 models. Therefore, the buckling moment of model 82 is 1,013.08 kNm with structural efficiency of 481.26, which shows an increase of 3.17% compared to the controlled model.

Originality/value

The FEA results shows a significant increase in ductility and stiffness of the tapered steel section with elipse shape opening and consequently changes in the behaviour of yield point.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors convey heartfelt gratitude and highest appreciation to supervisor and all the teaching and non-teaching staff members in the Universiti Sains Malaysia under financial support by the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme [number 203/PAWAM/6071239].

Conflict of interests: The authors declare they have no conflict of interests.

Citation

De’nan, F., Hashim, N.S. and Siew Ting, N. (2023), "Lateral torsional buckling behaviour of tapered steel section with web opening – finite element analysis", World Journal of Engineering, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/WJE-06-2022-0260

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

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