ABSTRACT
This paper presents a finite element investigation of the local buckling behaviour of the structural steel elliptical hollow section (EHS) in compression. The theoretical elastic buckling load of an EHS is similar to that of a Circular Hollow Section (CHS) except that the diameter term, D, is replaced by D 1 2 / D 2 https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203734964/80b0751b-7010-4142-be77-ae30d7cd0321/content/eq112.tif"/> , representing the major and minor diameters of the ellipse. The overall aim is to examine whether an “equivalent CHS” can be used to model the local buckling of EHS when considering imperfections and non-linear material properties as well as in pure elastic circumstance, through four steps of analysis. The results are benchmarked against experimental results. It was found that the use of an equivalent CHS was a reasonably good predictor of capacity of slender sections and the deformation capacity of compact sections. However, further benchmarking against experimental results is recommended.
