The Influence of Geometrical and Material Imperfections on the Stability and Resistance of I and H Sections

The design of steel structures has been deeply studied and reliable guidelines are provided in current standards. The ultimate resistance of open-sections such as I and H shapes depends on their buckling behaviour which is highly sensitive to the level of imperfections enhanced on the section. Extensive studies and experimental measurements on imperfections have been realised over the years, which enabled the improvement of standards recommendations. However, with the emergence and improvement of Finite Element software, these standards exhibit lack of information for the introduction of geometrical and structural imperfections into FE models. Therefore, numerical simulations were performed with the purpose of providing reliable and efficient recommendations. The current paper presents investigations related to the influence of geometrical and material imperfections on the local resistance of I and H sections. A consistent and convenient approach for their introduction into a Finite Element model is provided afterwards.

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