Innovative hollow corrugated columns: A fundamental study

• Stability performance of innovative corrugated columns is investigated.
• The corrugated columns show remarkable load-carrying capacity and ductility.
• The column behaviour depends significantly on corrugation height and angle.
• Proposed columns are cost-competitive compared to available sections in the market.

This paper focuses on the development of much-needed numerical and experimental models for understanding the mechanical behaviour, section capacity and energy absorption of the innovative fabricated columns consisting of corrugated mild-steel plates. The corrugated square columns proposed in this paper are fabricated by welding four corrugated plates which are originally produced from 3 mm thick flat mild steel plates. The experiments consist of applying a compressive axial force to the columns to determine load–displacement curves of the fabricated sections. The effects of geometric parameters such as inclination angle and corrugation height are also investigated experimentally by considering three different types of corrugated columns. Moreover, a finite element model in which the effects of material and geometric nonlinearities as well as residual stresses are taken into account is developed using ABAQUS. The experimental results are also compared with those given by the finite element (FE) model whilst a good agreement is achieved. A cost analysis is also conducted in which the cost of the innovative columns proposed in this research is compared to those of conventional welded columns currently available in the civil engineering market.