PLATE SLENDERNESS LIMITS FOR HIGH-STRENGTH STEEL SECTIONS

The paper describes a test programme on stub columns fabricated from BISALLOY 80 steel plates with nominal yield stress of 690 MPa. The programme comprises 18 box, cruciform and I-section specimens. The slenderness of the component plates are chosen in the vicinity of the yield slenderness limit, beyond which the stub column strength is reduced below the squash load as a result of local buckling. The purpose of the tests was to determine whether the yield slenderness limits used in the Australian Steel Structures Standard AS 4100 are applicable to BISALLOY 80 steel plates. The paper also assesses whether the plate strength rules of the Australian Steel Structures Standard AS 4100, the Load and Resistance Factor Design Specification of the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC-LRFD), the British Standard BS 5950 Part 1 and the European Convention for Structural Steelwork Eurocode3 are applicable to high strength steel. For this purpose, the plate strength curves of these specifications are compared with the BISALLOY 80 test results and with test results from the USA and Japan on high strength steel plates with nominal yield stress of 690 MPa.