Flexural behaviour of cold-formed steel oval hollow section beams

This paper presents a detailed investigation into the flexural strength and behaviour of cold-formed steel oval hollow section beams. A series of four-point bending tests were conducted as part of the experimental programme. Following this, a total of 12 tested beams were simulated by a non-linear finite element analysis. Upon validation of the newly developed numerical model, a total of 36 numerical results were generated through a parametric study to assess the structural response of the oval hollow section beams over a wider range of cross-section dimensions. The experimental and numerical data were used to evaluate the applicability of five existing design methods for cold formed steel structural members, including Eurocode 3, the North American Specification, the Australian/New Zealand Standards, the direct strength method and the continuous strength method. In general, the results indicate that all the three design standards produce unconservative predictions, while the direct strength method and the continuous strength method yield relatively accurate and consistent predictions.