Derrick Yap

BE (Aero)
Postgraduate Research Student
Centre for Advanced Structural Engineering

Research project - Interaction of local and distortional buckling modes in cold-formed high strength steel

Supervisor: Prof Greg Hancock
Associate Supervisor: Prof Kim Rasmussen

Cold-formed steel structures are steel structures that are made by bending flat sheets of steel at ambient temperature into shapes, while hot-rolled steel are formed at elevated temperatures. With the use of higher strength steels comes a reduction in thickness, which leads to the development of highly stiffened sections with more folds and stiffeners. This would inevitably lead to complex design problems for the treatment of structural instabilities.

In compression, cold-formed members exhibit the modes of instabilities, namely local, distortional and flexural or flexural-torsional buckling. With a highly stiffened section, a more accurate solution is required for the treatment of local buckling, distortional buckling and the interaction between them. The interaction of modes is not well documented in current literature as thicker sections are often being used. However with the reduction in thickness, sections are now prone to local and distortional buckling and the interaction between them. Hence there is a need to recognize this mode interaction and to accurately account for it in mathematical models.

Learning and Teaching

• ENGG1801 Engineering Computing
• ENGG1802 Engineering Mechanics
• ENGG1803 Professional Engineering 1

Distortional buckle