Aluminum tubular sections subjected to web crippling

• A total of 48 aluminum square hollow sections under web crippling were tested.
• The web crippling ultimate capacity under EOF and ETF conditions decreases as the slenderness ratio increases.
• Good agreement is achieved between the experimental and finite element results.
• The calculation formulas proposed in this paper can accurately predict experimental value.

This paper presents the details of experimental and numerical research study on web crippling property of aluminum tubular under concentrated web crippling loadings. A total of 48 aluminum square hollow sections with different boundary conditions, loading conditions, bearing lengths and section heights were tested. The experimental scheme, failure modes, load–displacement curves and strain intensity distribution curves were also presented. The investigation was focused on the effects of different boundary conditions, loading conditions, bearing lengths and web slenderness on web crippling ultimate capacity and ductility of aluminum square hollow sections. The results obtained from the experiments are shown that the effect of bearing length on the web crippling ultimate capacity under End-One-Flange (EOF) and End-Two-Flange (ETF) loading and boundary conditions is more obvious than those under Interior-One-Flange (IOF) and Interior-Two-Flange (ITF) boundary and loading conditions. The web crippling ultimate capacities under EOF and ETF loading conditions decreased as the slenderness ratio increased. As the bearing length was 150, the web crippling ultimate capacity under IOF and ITF loading conditions reached its peak when the value of the web slenderness was minimum. The web crippling ultimate capacities of aluminum tubular with bearing length=50 mm and 100 mm under IOF, ITF, EOF and ETF boundary and loading conditions decreased progressively. The web crippling ultimate capacity of aluminum tubular with bearing length=150 mm was approximately equal. Finite element models were developed to numerically simulate the tests performed in the experimental investigations. Based on the results of the parametric study, a number of design formulas proposed in this paper can be successfully employed as a design rule for predicting web crippling ultimate capacity of aluminum tubular sections under four loading and boundary conditions.