Column Buckling Tests of 420 Mpa High Strength Steel Single Equal Angles

This paper presents the results of the experimental studies conducted on the buckling behavior of 420 MPa high strength steel, hot-rolled, equal angle columns, numbering a total of 66 specimens with a wide range of column slenderness and section sizes. Based on the test results, the buckling modes and capacities were analyzed and the nondimensional buckling strengths were obtained and compared with the design strength predicted from Eurocode 3, ANSI/AISC 360-10 and Chinese standards GB50017-2003. The experimental results in previous studies were also employed in the comparison. The effect of width to thickness ratio of legs of an angle on buckling modes and strengths were investigated. It was found that the buckling strengths from test results were much higher than the corresponding design values and current design approaches were too conservative. Based on present and previous experimental results, a new design approach is suggested for the design of angle columns with 420 MPa high strength steel.