Design of Aluminum Alloy Flexural Members Using Direct Strength Method

This paper presents the experimental and numerical investigation of aluminum alloy flexural members. The tests were performed on ten different sizes of square hollow sections subjected to pure bending. Material properties of each specimen were obtained from tensile coupon tests. A nonlinear finite-element model was developed and verified against the pure bending tests. Stress-strain relationships obtained from tensile coupon tests were incorporated in the finite-element model. The verified finite-element model was used for a parametric study of aluminum alloy beams of square hollow sections. A comparison of the experimental and numerical bending strengths with the design strengths calculated using the current American, Australian/New Zealand, and European specifications for aluminum structures was presented. The bending strengths were also compared with the design strengths predicted by the direct strength method, which was developed for cold-formed carbon steel members. Design rules were proposed for aluminum alloy square hollow section beams based on the current direct strength method. Reliability analysis was performed to evaluate the reliability of the design rules.