Buckling resistance of perforated steel angle members

The detrimental effect due to perforations on the buckling resistance of perforated hot-rolled steel L-shaped members in compression is evaluated in the current paper.FEM numerical models are used in order to carry out buckling and non linear analyses with the aim of detecting both the critical and the collapse load of the studied elements in case of one or more holes.The obtained results show that, although the critical load is not strongly influenced by the presence of holes, the load bearing capacity, when members are characterized by middle–low slenderness, could be significantly diminished when drillings of common sizes are applied on one of the two section legs, meaning that current methods given by the codes are not fully conservative. As a consequence, specific stability curves are determined and proposed as useful alternative design procedure.

► Holes on angle members could give detrimental effects on buckling strength.
► Formulations given by EC 3 are not always conservative for perforated members.
► Thus, a new expression of the imperfection factor α has been proposed.