Thin-Walled Structures 138 (2019) 155–169

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Thin-Walled Structures
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Full length article

Local and post-local buckling of normal/high strength steel sections with T

concrete infill
⁎
Yuchen Songa,b, Jie Lib, , Yiyi Chenb,c
a
School of Civil Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
b
Department of Structural Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
c
State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Shanghai 200092, China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Steel sections in steel-concrete composite columns have been proofed to be less susceptible to local buckling and
Local-buckling have higher capacity than bare steel columns, attributed to the internal restraints provided by the infilled
Post-local buckling concrete. This article presents a theoretical study concerning the local and post-local buckling of fabricated
Steel-concrete composite columns normal and high strength steel sections filled with concrete, including concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) sec-
Effective width
tions and partially encased composite (PEC) sections. A nonlinear finite element (FE) model was established and
High strength steel
validated to simulate the behavior of steel plates in contact with concrete, with both geometric imperfections
Finite element analysis
Residual stress and residual stresses explicitly incorporated. This model was subsequently applied in a parametric study to
investigate the effects of several critical factors on the local buckling behavior of box and I steel sections. Based
on the available test and FE results, new design formulas were proposed to predict the local buckling and post-
buckling ultimate strengths of concrete-restrained steel box and I sections, taking into consideration high ma-
terial strengths, residual stresses and geometric imperfections. The enhancement of strength due to the presence
of concrete infill was confirmed through a comparison with the post-buckling strength of bare steel sections.
Recommendations were also made for design purpose based on the formulas proposed.

1. Introduction
Steel-concrete composite columns made with fabricated steel sec-
tions and concrete infills have been extensively used as vertical load-
bearing members in recent decades. By combining the advantages of
steel and concrete, composite columns have significant structural,
constructional and economic benefits, such as enhanced strength and
fire resistance, fast erection and considerable cost saving. Recent de-
velopments in composite columns have seen the researches on very thin
steel plate Sections [1–5] as well as high strength steels (with yield
stress σy≥460MPa ) [6–11], which are susceptible to local buckling when
applied as pure steel columns. The local buckling resistance of a com-
posite section is known to be higher than that of a pure steel section,
which could be attributed to the composite action between the steel and
concrete. Since the concrete infill provides an internal restraint against
potential inward local buckling, the steel plate could only buckle out-
ward with a higher-order buckling pattern (as shown in Fig. 1), re-
sulting in an enhanced capacity compared with the reference bare steel
section.
Two types of composite members are considered in the present
study, namely the concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) columns and the
partially encased composite (PEC) columns. The former ones (shown in
Fig. 1(a)) are formed by pouring concrete into square or rectangular
steel boxes (circular tubes are out of the scope of this study). While the
PEC columns (Fig. 1(b)) are built up with wide-flange fabricated I-
sections and the concrete filled in between flanges. A strengthened PEC
column (Fig. 1(c)) also contains transverse steel links welded at regular
intervals between two flanges, providing additional restraints against
local buckling.
The local buckling issue of steel-concrete composite sections, in-
cluding CFST sections and PEC sections, has attracted extensive re-
search interests in the past several decades. Ge and Usami [12,13]
studied the behavior of CFST columns with experiments and numerical
analyses, with special attentions paid to the post-local buckling strength
of concrete filled steel boxes. Theoretical studies conducted by Wright
[14,15] provided the slenderness limit predictions for different steel
sections in contact with rigid medium (refers to concrete in most cases)
based on the energy method. Uy and Bradford [16] evaluated the elastic
local buckling strength of steel plates in different types of composite
members using the finite strip method and subsequently proposed the

⁎
Correspondence to: Department of Structural Engineering, Tongji University, Room A609, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China.
E-mail addresses: yuchen.song@sydney.edu.au (Y. Song), lj@tongji.edu.cn (J. Li), yiyichen@tongji.edu.cn (Y. Chen).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2019.02.004
Received 24 July 2018; Received in revised form 29 January 2019; Accepted 6 February 2019
Available online 14 February 2019
0263-8231/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Y. Song, et al.
Fig. 1. Buckling modes of steel sections with concrete infill: (a) box section
(CFST column); (b) I section (PEC column); (c) I section with links (strength-
ened PEC column).
slenderness limit for these elements. Bridge and O’Shea [2] tested an
extensive series of thin-walled steel boxes with or without internal re-
straint, in order to evaluate the constraints provided by the concrete
infill. A comprehensive series of researches were conducted by Uy and
his collaborators [1,5,6,17,18] with experimental programs and nu-
merical tools, concerning the local and post-local buckling of fabricated
steel sections filled with concrete, including both the CFST and PEC
sections made with normal or high strength steel. Design methods based
on the effective width concept were also proposed. Theoretical in-
vestigations and parametric studies on the local and post-local buckling
behavior of CFST sections were carried out by Liang and Uy [19,20].
Tremblay et al. [3] and Chicoine et al. [4] investigated the local
bucking behavior of link-strengthened PEC columns with the effective
width approach. The ultimate strength and the post-peak behavior of
welded steel shapes in PEC columns were evaluated by Song et al. [21].
Behavior of hollow and concrete filled box columns made with high
strength steel was studied by Khan et al. [10]. More recent articles
include Wang et al. [22] on the composite strength of PEC columns
considering local buckling; as well as Huang et al. [23] on local and
post-local buckling of high strength box and I sections with or without
concrete infill.
Although a great deal of effort has been devoted on the local and
post-local buckling behavior of steel sections with concrete infill, in-
formation is still limited for CFST and PEC sections incorporating high-
strength steels. Moreover, there has not yet been a comprehensive
evaluation concerning the local buckling and post-buckling ultimate
strength of both CFST and PEC sections with normal/high strength
steels, accounting for both welding residual stresses and geometric
imperfections.
The objective of this study is to investigate the local and post-local
buckling behavior of fabricated normal and high strength steel sections
with concrete infill, including CFST sections and PEC sections. A non-
linear FE model is established to simulate the local buckling and post-
buckling of steel plates in contact with concrete, considering geometric
imperfections and residual stresses. The feasibility of the model is va-
lidated through comparisons with existing test results. This model is
subsequently used to carry out a parametric study to investigate the
effects of several important factors on the behavior of internal and
outstand plate elements (used to represent CFST and PEC sections, re-
spectively). Based on the analytical results, formulas and corresponding
design methods are proposed to predict the local buckling and ultimate
strength of CFST and PEC sections.
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Thin-Walled Structures 138 (2019) 155–169
Fig. 2. FE models: (a) internal plate; (b) outstand plate.
2. Numerical modeling
Nonlinear FE models were constructed based on the platform of
ABAQUS/CAE. The explicit dynamic module ABAQUS/Explicit was
employed as the solver, since it provides a powerful tool to solve highly
nonlinear problems such as contact analyses and unstable post-buckling
analyses.
2.1. Analytical model
The analytical models of steel plates in CFST and PEC sections are
shown in Fig. 2. As the presence of concrete infill provides internal
constraints to the steel sections, the walls of a box section (CFST
column) could buckle individually without interaction, therefore each
wall could be treated as an internal plate element with all edges sup-
ported. The width b of the internal plate represents the free width be-
tween the two supports, i.e. the distance between the central planes of
the two perpendicular walls connected to the considered internal plate
element (as shown in Fig. 1(a)). For an I-sections (PEC column), the
web is effectively constrained by the concrete on both sides and can
therefore develop full plasticity without local buckling. The flanges, on
the other hand, may buckle outward and could be considered as out-
stand plate elements with the width b equal to half the flange width
(shown in Fig. 1(b)).
Supported edges of a plate element in contact with concrete were
generally assumed to be clamped in previous researches [5,14]. This
assumption was adopted in this study. For an internal plate (Fig. 2(a)),
all edges were assumed clamped, i.e. the out-of-plane displacement (dz)
and rotation (rx or ry) are constrained. For an outstand plate (Fig. 2(b)),
clamped boundary conditions were applied at the loaded edges and one
of the unloaded edges (representing the flange-web joint), while the
other unloaded edge was assumed free. The aspect ratio a/b of the plate
elements were determined according to the local buckling modes. In the
case of internal element, a/b = 1.0 was assumed, as suggested by Uy
and Bradford [16] that the minimum buckling load could be obtained
with this half-wave length. For outstand elements, on the other hand,
the plate length was equal to the transverse link spacing s, as local
buckling can only occur within this interval. Plate lengths larger than
two times the plate width were not considered in this study, since the
buckling strength almost maintains constant for aspect ratios larger
than 2 (as discussed in Section 3.5).
2.2. Method of finite element modeling
2.2.1. Residual stresses and geometric imperfections
The effects of residual stresses and geometric imperfections were
considered in the present analysis. The residual stress model proposed
Y. Song, et al. Thin-Walled Structures 138 (2019) 155–169

the tensile force. The parameters in Fig. 3. were determined according

to Ban et al. [25,26] and summarized in Table 1. Note that the original
parameters in Ref. [26] for I sections (outstand plates) are in relation to
the web thickness and the fillet weld size. For simplicity, in this study
the thickness of the web was assumed equal to the flange, and the fillet
weld size was assumed to be half the web thickness. The magnitude of
the tensile residual stresses σrt was given by Shi et al. [24] as sum-
marized in Table 2. Residual stress at the flange edge σrte was taken
50 MPa for all steel grades. Although Shi et al. [24] suggested σrte equal
to 345 MPa for steel grades higher than 800 MPa, this was not adopted
as it would significantly enhance the buckling strength and lead to
unconservative estimations.
Values of the compressive residual stress σrc were proposed by Shi
et al. [24] for normal and high strength box and I sections, which are
functions of width-to-thickness ratio b/t and plate thickness t. However,
since these values were proposed based on test results for bare steel
sections, i.e. with compact steel plates, they were found to be not ap-
plicable for composite sections with relatively slender plates. Therefore,
Fig. 3. Residual stress models: (a) box section (internal plate); (b) I section
(outstand plate). in this study the magnitude of the compressive residual stress were
calibrated based on available measurements for both box
[1,2,5,6,25,27–32] and I Sections [3–5,26,30,31,33–36]. Collected test
Table 1 results for the average compressive residual stress are plotted in
Residual stress ranges of the present model.
Fig. 4(a) and (b), with b/t up to 180 for walls of box sections and b/t up
Parameters a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 to 35 for flanges of I sections. Data for high strength steels are marked
with hollow symbols while normal strength steels marked with solid
Internal plate t balance a
balance – –
Outstand plate t balance balance 0.1(b-t) 0.1(b-t)
ones. Reasonable and conservative estimations of the compressive re-
sidual stress are obtained by the proposed formulas as shown in
a
Calculated by balancing the internal forces. Fig. 4(a). For test data of Bridge and O’Shea [2], predictions are slightly
uncoservative, which may be attributed to the extremely thin plates
Table 2 used in the tests (2 mm), which are not likely to be used in real con-
Residual stress magnitudes of the present model. structions.
Residual stress σrt σrc σrte
The initial geometric imperfection (or initial out-of-flatness) w of
the plate was given by the functions proposed by Wright [15]. For in-
Internal plate σy (σy≤460) σrc = −20 − 4500/(b/ t ) – ternal plates:
⎧
⎪
σrt = 460(460 < σy≤690) w0
⎨
⎪ 690(σy >690) w= [1 − cos(2πx/a)][1 − cos(2πy/b)]
⎩ 4 (1)
Outstand plate σy (σy≤345) σrc = −25 − 1800/(b/ t ) σrte = 50
⎧
⎪
σrt = 345(345 < σy≤550) whilst for outstand plates:
⎨
⎪ 460(σy >550)
⎩ w0 x2
w= [1 − cos(2πy/a)] 2
2 b (2)

by Shi et al. [24] was adopted and modified to predict the residual
stress distributions of normal/high strength welded box and I sections.
The stress patterns for internal and outstand plates are shown in Fig. 3.
Tensile stresses exist in the vicinity of the welds for both internal and
outstand plates, and at the flame-cut edges for outstand plates. Com-
pressive stresses generate in the rest parts of the section, balancing with
in which w0 is the maximum initial (outward) defection, x and y are the
coordinates of an arbitrary point in the middle plane of the plate de-
fined in Fig. 2(a) and (b).
2.2.2. Material model
The plasticity of steel was considered by von Mises yield criterion

Fig. 4. Compressive residual stress: (a) wall of box section (internal plate); (b) flange of I section (outstand plate).

157
Y. Song, et al.
Fig. 5. Stress-strain model for steel.
and isotropic hardening, whilst the monotonic stress-strain model
proposed by Shi et al. [24,37] was applied to simulate the uniaxial
behavior of both normal and high strength steels. As shown in Fig. 5,
quadruple-linear relationships were assumed for steels with yield
stresses no greater than 460 MPa, whilst tri-linear relationships were
used for steels with yield stresses higher than 460 MPa. The elastic
modulus and Poisson’s ratio were 206 GPa and 0.3 respectively for both
normal and high strength steels.
2.2.3. Elements, contact and loading conditions
The FE models of internal and outstand plates are shown in Fig. 2.
Four-node reduced integration shell elements (S4R) were employed for
the steel plates, with a maximum element size of 1/10 the plate width,
ensuring a balance between accuracy and efficiency. The concrete block
(infill) in contact with the steel plate were modeled using eight-node
reduced integration brick elements (C3D8R), with “Hard contact” as-
signed at the steel-concrete interfaces in the normal direction. Tan-
gential bonds between the steel and the concrete were neglected in this
model. By this means, the steel plates would not buckle inwardly, and
the expected buckling modes (as shown in Fig. 1) could be obtained.
Since the concrete block only performs as a rigid support to the steel
plate, its load carrying properties were not concerned. For computa-
tional efficiency, a linear elastic property was assigned to the concrete.
In order to obtain the nonlinear post-buckling behavior of the steel
plates, a displacement-controlled loading strategy was adopted. An
axial shortening up to 1/25 the plate length was applied to each plate
specimen within a time period of 40 s, thus the loading speed is around
0.3–0.6 mm/s. Although this speed may be higher than actual loading
Fig. 6. Load-deformation (average stress-average strain) curves of steel plates in different loading conditions: (a) internal plate; (b) outstand plate.
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Thin-Walled Structures 138 (2019) 155–169
speed in experiments, by checking the energy output it was confirmed
that the analysis can be considered as quasi-static since the ratio of
kinetic energy to internal energy is well below 10% [38] (around 0.1%
in most cases). The axial displacements were exerting through two re-
ference points (RP) tied to the loaded edges of the plate (Fig. 2) by
“Rigid Body” constraint, which could ensure the loaded edges re-
maining straight.
Loads (displacements) were applied to both the steel plate and the
concrete block in the present study, however only the force of the steel
plate was recorded. It is noteworthy that in most previous studies
concerning local buckling behaviors of composite sections
[1,2,5,10,14–16,19,20,23], the concrete was only treated as a rigid
medium in contact with the steel plate, and the load was applied to the
steel section only. Although in actual engineering practices loads are
always carried by both steel and concrete, the above-mentioned loading
condition (load on steel only) may be inevitable if the local buckling
behavior is interested. This is probably because: (1) if the load is ap-
plied on the composite section in an actual experiment, one could
hardly obtain the load carried by the steel section, therefore impossible
to determine the local buckling and post-buckling strengths. (2) the
concrete infill seems to have negligible influence to the behavior of
steel section at early loading stages (prior to local buckling) since the
Poisson’s ratio of concrete is smaller than that of steel (provided the
axial strain is not too large). To ascertain whether the load on concrete
has effect to the behavior of steel plate in a composite section, addi-
tional FE analyses were performed in three different loading conditions:
i.e. (1) loads on steel and elastic concrete (adopted in this study); (2)
loads on steel and inelastic concrete (as in engineering practices); (3)
load on steel only (as in previous studies). From the results shown in
Fig. 6, it is obvious that the load-deformation curves of all loading
conditions have actually no difference. Therefore, the three conditions
could be treated equivalent to each other when investigating the local
buckling behavior of composite sections.
2.3. Identification of initial local buckling
Before further investigations, it is essential to set up a framework to
identify the initial local buckling state. For perfectly straight plates
under compression, the local buckling state is also referred to as the
“critical” or “bifurcation” state, as a significant bifurcation phenom-
enon could be observed from the load-deflection curve, clearly in-
dicating the occurrence of local buckling. However, for actual plates
with material and geometric imperfections, the exact local buckling
state could be hard to determine. For example, a compressed plate
would gradually transfer from the pre-buckling to the post-buckling
range as the stiffness reduces, without a definite bifurcation state
Y. Song, et al. Thin-Walled Structures 138 (2019) 155–169

Table 3
Validation of the FE models-part 1: normal strength box sections (internal
plates) [1].
Specimen b (mm) t (mm) b/t Ntest (kN) FEM

Nfem (kN) Nfem/Ntest

LB2 123 3 41 450 402.7 0.895

LB4 153 3 51 488 463.7 0.950
LB6 183 3 61 517 518.2 1.002
LB8 243 3 81 563 616.2 1.094
LB10 303 3 101 622 701.8 1.128
Mean 1.014

Table 4
Validation of the FE models-part 2: normal strength I sections (outstand plates)
[5].
Fig. 7. Average stress-average strain curve and local strain-average strain curve
Specimen b (mm) t (mm) b/t Ntest (kN) FEM
of a plate.
Nfem (kN) Nfem/Ntest
(shown in Fig. 7). In these cases, the initial local buckling is always
FI1 60 3 20 340 262.1 0.771
defined as a state when the transverse deflection begins to develop FI2 75 3 25 350 311.8 0.891
rapidly and the cross-sectional stress redistribution initiates. This state FI3 90 3 30 375 355.5 0.948
is identified through a local strain-based technique in the present study. FI4 105 3 35 400 395.8 0.990
Mean 0.900
The basic conception of the proposed technique is to monitor the
cross-sectional stress redistribution through the measurement of local
longitudinal strains (at the outer surface of the plate) within the sup-
Table 5
posed buckling region. For internal plates (Fig. 2(a)), local strains were
Validation of the FE models-part 3: high strength box sections (internal plates)
measured and outputted at 2 elements (s1 and s2) in the central region, [10].
where the local distortion due to buckling is the most significant. For
Specimen b (mm) t (mm) b/t Ntest/Ns FEM
outstand plates, 3 elements were measured as shown in Fig. 2(b). As an
illustration, the average local strain of the measured elements was Nfem/Ns Nfem/Ntest
calculated and plotted against the average strain (axial shortening) for a
typical internal plate, as shown in Fig. 7. The average stress-average CS15-SH(B) 74.24 4.89 15 1.152 1.144 0.993
CS20-SH(B) 99.31 4.87 20 1.106 1.033 0.934
strain curve of the plate is also displayed in the same figure with a
CS25-SH(A) 124.69 4.93 25 1.002 0.976 0.974
shared X-coordinate and a separate Y-coordinate. CS30-SH(A) 149.89 4.95 30 0.950 0.927 0.976
As illustrated in Fig. 7, before the initial local buckling takes place, CS40-SH(B) 198.99 4.90 41 0.737 0.814 1.104
the local strain (positive value denotes compressive strain) increases Mean 0.996
correspondingly with the increase of the average strain. As soon as the
local buckling occurs, a significant lateral deflection as well as a cross-
sectional stress redistribution initiate at the region where local strains and is 265 MPa for I sections. The geometric properties of the internal
are measured, meanwhile a reduction of the local strain is observed, and outstand plate elements are summarized in Tables 3–5. The max-
which is attributed to the tensile bending strain developed at the outer imum geometric imperfection was set as b/125 for internal plates and
surface due to the outward bulge of the plate. Therefore, it is defined b/50 for outstand plates, which would be explained in Section 3.1. The
that the local buckling occurs as the average local strain attains its residual stresses were introduced using the model described in Section
maximum value. 2.2.1.
It is noteworthy that as the present FE models only contain a single
half-wave length (a=b), the actual test specimens, on the other hand,
2.4. Post-local buckling behavior
were made by “long” plates. This difference may lead to a discrepancy
in the calculation of the axial strain, which is equal to the overall axial
The occurrence of the initial local buckling initiates the stress re-
shortening divided by the length of the specimen. If the specimen is
distribution across the plate section: the highly buckled region tends to
loaded in the elastic range, this discrepancy may have no influence
unload due to the rapid reduction of the axial stiffness, while the re-
since the whole plate is in an uniform compression along its length, and
gions close to the supported edges are not severely affected by the local
the axial strains calculated with different plate lengths always have the
buckling and have post-buckling reserves of strength. The plate as a
same value. However, if the specimen is in a plastic post-buckling state,
whole could still carry increasing loads, but with a reduced stiffness, up
as reported in previous researches [21,39], further inelastic deforma-
to the ultimate state, as shown in Fig. 7. This phenomenon, commonly
tion tends to localize within a single half-wave length of the bucked
known as the post-local buckling behavior, is crucial in determining the
region, while the rest regions will unload. This strain localization
ultimate strength of a thin plate, which will be further discussed in
phenomenon was considered in this study by assuming that once the
Chapter 5.
ultimate load is attained, all further deformation is confined in a single
half-wave length a, while the strains at the ultimate load are remained
2.5. Model validation in the rest portions. For I sections, since only the flange is modeled, the
strength of the whole section is obtained by adding up the strength of
A series of test results on local and post-local buckling of concrete the web to the total strength of four flange outstands. The former one is
filled box and I sections, which are available in Ref. [1,5,10], were obtained through an elasto-plastic analysis of the web plate without
selected to validate the present FE models. The average yield stress of local buckling.
the tested specimens are 300 and 762 MPa respectively for box sections,

159
Y. Song, et al.
Fig. 8. Comparisons of present FE solutions with test results: (a) specimen LB6 [1]; (b) specimen FI4 [5]; (c) specimen CS-30-SH(A) [10].
Fig. 9. Comparisons of test and FE failure modes: (a) internal plate, normal strength [1]; (b) outstand plate, normal strength [5]; (c) internal plate, high strength
[10].
The load-axial shortening (strain) relationships derived from the FE
models were compared with the test results, as shown in Fig. 8. Note
that the ultimate loads for high strength box section tests [10] were
normalized with respect to the yield force of the box section Ns. In
Fig. 8(a) and (b), the initial stiffness of the test results are observed to
be lower than that of the FE outcomes, which may be due to the de-
formation of polystyrene in the tests, as well as the close of the gap
between the ends of the specimens and the loading plates. The ultimate
strengths obtained from both the tests and the FE analyses are com-
pared in Tables 3–5. Reasonable agreement could be found for box
sections. For I sections, the predictions are conservative mainly due to
the high test capacity of Specimen FI1, which is reported to be 1.21
times the yield capacity (281 kN) [5], probably due to the uncertainty
of the yield stress in actual specimens. The post-buckling deformation
modes at the local buckling region are compared in Fig. 9. between the
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Thin-Walled Structures 138 (2019) 155–169
test specimens and the FE models, showing well agreement. It is further
confirmed that the buckling half-wave length a of internal plates with
concrete infill is approximately equal to b, and that of outstand plates is
around 2b.
3. Parametric study and numerical tests
Using the FE models described above, a parametric study was per-
formed to investigate the effects of several critical factors on the local
and post-local buckling behavior of steel plates in composite sections.
Based on this, numerical tests were carried out, providing an extensive
database for the prediction of both the local bucking strength and the
post-buckling ultimate strength.
Y. Song, et al.
Fig. 10. Average stress-average strain curves of plates with various geometric imperfections: (a) internal plate; (b) outstand plate.
3.1. Effects of geometric imperfections
The geometric imperfection, or initial out-of-flatness, has been
proofed to be an important factor influencing the local buckling of thin
plates. In this section, a set of internal/outstand plates with various
magnitudes of initial deflections are studied. For internal plates the
selected maximum deflection w0 varies from b/1000 to b/125, while for
outstand plates, this value is in the range from 1/400–1/50. Other
variables other than the geometric imperfection are maintained con-
stant: b/t ratios are 40 and 20 respectively for internal and outstand
plates; a/b is 1 for internal and 2 for outstand plates; residual stresses
are considered in all cases. Note that the maximum imperfections se-
lected for internal and outstand plates are those given in European
standard [40] as manufacturing tolerances for welded box and I sec-
tions.
Normalized average stress-average strain curves for various im-
perfections are compared in Fig. 10 for four steel grades (235, 460, 690,
960). Using the technique introduced in Section 2.4, the initial local
buckling stress of all the cases were determined and marked by stars on
these curves. From the figure, A notable decrease of the buckling stress
could be observed as the initial deflection increases. The effects of
geometric imperfections on the ultimate capacity is less significant,
especially for slender plates with relatively low strengths. It is noted
that the descending (unload) portions of all curves with different initial
deflections almost coincide with each other, indicating that the effects
of geometric imperfections are gradually eliminated as the plate de-
formation develops.
3.2. Effects of residual stresses
In this section, plates with or without residual stresses are con-
sidered to investigate the effects of residual stresses on plate behaviors.
b/t and a/b ratios are the same as in Section 3.1. Geometric imperfec-
tions are 1/125 and 1/50 respectively for internal and outstand plates.
It is obvious from Fig. 11 that the presence of residual stress compro-
mises both the local buckling and the ultimate strengths as the com-
pressive residual stress could cause early buckling of the plate. Simi-
larly, the effects of residual stresses are eliminated at a large
deformation, when the whole section is in the plastic regime.
Moreover, the incorporation of residual stresses also leads to an
increase of the strain corresponding to the ultimate strength, which is
around two times the yield strain εy for 235 MPa plates. This phe-
nomenon is due to the presence of the tensile residual stress (equal to
the yield stress for 235 MPa steel grade), since the ultimate strength
could only be obtained as the tensile stress regions attains the yield
limit in compression, at an axial strain of around 2εy. For higher steel
grades, the increase in ultimate strain is less significant as the ratio of
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Thin-Walled Structures 138 (2019) 155–169
the tensile residual stress to the yield stress is lower.
3.3. Effects of width-to-thickness ratios
The width-to-thickness ratio is a dominant factor influencing the
local and post-local buckling behavior of thin plates. To investigate the
influence of this factor, internal plates with the width-to-thickness ra-
tios of 20, 40, 60 and 80 were analyzed in the parametric study; while
for outstand plates, b/t of 10, 20, 30 and 40 were selected. a/b ratios are
the same as in Section 3.1. Both residual stresses and geometric im-
perfections (internal: b/125, outstand: b/50) were considered. The
computed results are shown in Fig. 12, in terms of normalized average
stress-average strain curves.
It could be seen from Fig. 12 that for both types of plates, the local
buckling strength and the ultimate strength increase significantly with a
decrease of the width-to-thickness ratio. For a slender plate with a large
width-to-thickness ratio, local buckling takes place in the elastic re-
gime. However, the strength of the plate is still able to increase up to
the ultimate state, after which the load-carrying capacity begins to
drop. When the width-to-thickness ratios are less than a certain limit,
local buckling would occur in the inelastic range, as the local buckling
stress σol is practically equal to the yield stress and the buckling point
located on the plastic plateau. In these cases, there would be hardly any
strength enhancement due to the post-buckling behavior, and the ca-
pacity drops immediately after the local buckling.
3.4. Effects of yield stresses
From Figs. 10–13, it is obvious that both the local buckling strength
and the ultimate strength (normalized values) reduce as the yield stress
increases from 235 MPa to 960 MPa. It could be concluded that internal
and outstand plates with higher yield stresses are more susceptible to
local buckling, therefore thicker steel plates are required for composite
sections made with higher strength steels.
3.5. Effects of aspect ratios
For outstand plates strengthened by transverse links, the link spa-
cing is an important factor influencing the local buckling behavior since
it is related to the aspect ratio of the plate. As displayed in Fig. 13,
outstand plates with smaller aspect ratios exhibit higher local buckling
strengths as well as ultimate strengths. However, there is only slight
increase in the local buckling strength and the ultimate strength
(around 5%) as the aspect ratio reduces from 4 to 2. This is because the
buckling half wave length is always around 2 times the plate (outstand)
width b for plates longer than 2b, which is in accordance with the ex-
perimental observation in Fig. 9. It could be further concluded that only
Y. Song, et al. Thin-Walled Structures 138 (2019) 155–169

Fig. 11. Average stress-average strain curves of plates with or without residual stress: (a) internal plate; (b) outstand plate.

when transverse links are installed with intervals less than 2 times the
outstand width could they do actual help to enhance the plate strength.
Therefore, in this study, outstand plates without transverse links are
assumed to have an aspect ratio of 2.

3.6. Numerical tests

In order to obtain sufficient data to make reasonable predictions of

the local buckling strength and the ultimate strength, comprehensive
numerical tests were performed for internal/outstand plates with con-
crete infill, using the proposed FE model. The numerical tests comprised
124 cases in total, including 52 internal plates and 72 outstand plates.
The input variables are summarized in Table 6, yield stresses of 235,
460, 690 and 960 MPa were assigned to both types of plates, covering
normal, high and ultra-high strength steels. The geometric imperfec-
tions w0 were set as b/125 for internal plates and b/50 for outstand Fig. 13. Average stress-average strain curves of outstand plates with various
plates, in accordance with the manufacturing tolerances in Ref. [40]. aspect ratios (link spacing).
The residual stresses were incorporated in all cases with the models
described in Section 2.2.1. An aspect ratio equal to 1 was set for all
4. Local buckling strength
internal plates, while for outstand plates this ratio was taken as 1 or 2,
representing flange outstands in PEC sections with or without trans-
The results derived from the numerical tests were analyzed in order
verse links. The width-to-thickness ratios of the internal plates varied
to develop equations for predicting the initial local buckling strength of
from 15 to 100, whilst ratios in the range of 10–50 were set for outstand
the internal/outstand plates in contact with concrete infill. The pro-
plates.
posed equations were validated through comparisons with some ex-
The initial local buckling strength and the ultimate strength were
isting test data.
determined from the computed results for all the cases, which are dis-
cussed in the following two chapters.

Fig. 12. Average stress-average strain curves of plates with various width-to-thickness ratios: (a) internal plate; (b) outstand plate.

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Y. Song, et al. Thin-Walled Structures 138 (2019) 155–169

Table 6 plates considering inelastic effects, expressed as:

Input data for numerical test.
σol π 2Ekη η
Variable Internal plates Outstand plates = = 2
σy 12(1−ν 2)(b/ t )2σy λp (6)
b (mm) 300 300
σy (MPa) 235, 460, 690, 960 235, 460, 690, 960 in which the factor η considers the effects of material inelasticity, re-
w0/b 1/125 1/50 sidual stresses and geometric imperfections. In the present study, the
a/b 1 1, 2
b/t 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 60, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40,
value of factor η was derived through a mathematical regression of the
70, 80, 90, 100 45, 50 computed buckling stresses for normal/high strength steel plates with
Total number 52 72 material and geometric imperfections. Regarding internal plates, the
expression is:

4.1. Local buckling stress η = λp2 − 1.6(λp − λp0 )1.7 (ifλp < λp0 , η = λp2) (7)

The issue of local buckling was first investigated theoretically by While for outstand plates, it is:
Bryan [41], who proposed a solution for the elastic local buckling stress
of a simply supported plate under uniform compression as: η = λp2 − 1.55(λp − λp0 )1.8 (ifλp < λp0 , η = λp2) (8)

σol π 2Ek 1 In Eqs. (7) and (8), λp0 is the yield slenderness limit between elastic
= = 2
σy 12(1−ν 2)(b/ t )2σy λp (3) and plastic buckling. For slenderness ratios less than this limit, the in-
itial local buckling would occur in the plastic regime, and the buckling
in which λp is known as the slenderness ratio of the plate, expressed as: stresses would be equal to the yield stress. In this study, λp0 takes 0.42
and 0.36 respectively for internal and outstand plates, which yields
σy b 12(1−ν 2) σy
λp = = good agreement with the computed buckling stresses. With the pro-
σol t Eπ 2k (4) posed factor η, Eqs. (6)–(8) produce reasonable predictions for the local
In this equation, the buckling coefficient k takes different values to buckling stresses, as shown in Fig. 14.
account for different loading states and boundary conditions. For in-
ternal plates (all edges clamped) with the aspect ratio equal to 1, a 4.2. Local buckling strain
buckling coefficient k = 10.3 was substituted into Eq. (4), which was
originally suggested by Uy and Bradford [16]. For outstand plates, an Eqs. (6)–(8) could be applied to predict local buckling of thin plates
equation proposed by Tremblay et al. [3] was adopted, as: which have buckling stresses less than the yield stress. However, for
4 15 20 compact plates which buckle in inelastic regime (λp < λp0 ), due to
k= + 4 (a/ b)2 + (2 − 3ν )
(a/ b)2 π 3π 2 (5) material yielding and strain hardening, it is more rational to use the
local buckling strain εol (the average axial strain at the initial buckling
This equation could take into account the effects of different aspect state) to predict the occurrence of local buckling.
ratios (or link spacing) for outstand plates strengthened by transverse Fig. 15 shows the local buckling strain values of all computed plates
links. As indicated in Section 3.5, a/b = 2 could be substituted into Eq. with λp < λp0 , which increase with a decrease in the slenderness ratio.
(5) for plates without links. Expressions that make reasonable predictions of the local buckling
The local buckling stresses obtained from the numerical tests are strains are as follows. For internal plates:
compared in Fig. 14 with the elastic buckling curve predicted by Eq.
(3), for both internal and outstand plates. It is obvious that Bryan’s εol 30
= +170λp −140.5 (λp < λp0)
elastic buckling formula overestimates the initial local buckling stresses εy λp (9)
in the considered slenderness range, mainly due to the fact that this
formula is established for elastically buckled perfectly straight plates. For outstand plates:
For plates with inelastic behavior and initial imperfections, Eq. (3) is no
εol 12
longer applicable. = +92.6λp −64.8 (λp < λp0)
εy λp (10)
Bleich [42] proposed a theoretical solution for local buckling of thin

Fig. 14. Local buckling stresses from FE analyses and comparisons with theoretical formulas: (a) internal plate; (b) outstand plate.

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Y. Song, et al. Thin-Walled Structures 138 (2019) 155–169

Fig. 15. Local buckling strains of compact plates: (a) internal plate; (b) outstand plate.

4.3. Comparison with test results

Stub column tests were conducted by Uy [1,5] and Huang et al. [23]
on local buckling of steel sections with concrete infill. In these tests, the
axial load was applied to the steel section only, while the concrete infill
only performed as a lateral restraint. By this means, the capacity of the
steel section could be measured, and the local buckling and ultimate
strengths could be determined. These test results are compared with the
proposed local buckling formulas.
Properties of all the tested specimens are summarized in Table 7,
while the measured local buckling stresses are given in the same table
and also shown in Fig. 16 together with the predicted local buckling
stresses.
It could be found in Fig. 16 that the values predicted by Bryan’s
formula Eq. (3) generally overestimate the local buckling stress of the
test specimens. The formulas proposed in this study (Eqs. (6)–(8)), on
the other hand, makes better and conservative estimations to the test
results, with an average ratio of the predicted to measured buckling Fig. 16. Comparison of theoretical formulas and measured local buckling
stress equal to 0.67 and a standard deviation of 0.130. The low average stresses.
ratio is attributed to the conservative predictions for extremely slender
plates (Series 2), of which both test and predicted buckling stresses are

Table 7
Properties and local buckling stresses of previously tested specimens.
Test Section type Specimen b/t fy (MPa) λp Test σol,test/σy Predicted σol,pre /σy σol,pre /σol,test

Series 1 Uy [1] Box section (internal plate) LB2 40 300 0.51 1 0.90 0.90
LB4 50 300 0.63 0.89 0.72 0.80
LB6 60 300 0.76 0.78 0.56 0.71
LB8 80 300 1.02 0.5 0.35 0.71
LB10 100 300 1.27 0.33 0.25 0.75
Series 2 Uy [5] Box section (internal plate) FB1 120 265 1.43 0.48 0.20 0.43
FB2 140 265 1.67 0.45 0.16 0.36
FB3 160 265 1.91 0.2 0.14 0.68
FB4 180 265 2.15 0.21 0.12 0.58
Series 3 Huang [23] Box section (internal plate) FB80-1 38 738 0.75 0.72 0.57 0.79
FB80-2 48 738 0.94 0.6 0.40 0.67
FB80-3 58 738 1.14 0.41 0.30 0.72
FB80-4 68 738 1.33 0.44 0.23 0.52
Series 4 Uy [5] I section (outstand plate) FI1 20 265 0.50 1 0.82 0.82
FI2 25 265 0.62 0.85 0.64 0.76
FI3 30 265 0.75 0.71 0.49 0.70
FI4 35 265 0.87 0.6 0.39 0.65
Series 5 Huang [23] I section (outstand plate) FI80-1 20 741 0.82 0.54 0.43 0.80
FI80-2 25 741 1.03 0.47 0.29 0.62
FI80-3 30 741 1.23 0.33 0.20 0.61
FI80-4 35 741 1.44 0.26 0.14 0.54
Mean 0.67
St. Dev. 0.130

164
Y. Song, et al.
very low. Nevertheless, the proposed formulas based on FE analyses
seem to provide a reasonable lower bound estimation of the local
buckling stress since both geometric and material imperfections were
considered with conservative (high) values.
5. Post-local buckling ultimate strength
The post-local buckling behavior of plates, with λp > λp0 , is dis-
cussed in this chapter. The effective width method was employed and
calibrated against FE results to predict the post-local buckling ultimate
stress of both internal and outstand steel plates with concrete infill. The
proposed formulas were compared with existing test results for com-
posite sections, as well as effective width formulas for bare steel sec-
tions.
5.1. Effective width of buckled plates
The effective width concept was first proposed by von Karman [43]
to predict the load carrying capacity of buckled thin plates, which as-
sumes that the buckled portions of the plate become “ineffective” in
carrying load, while the effective portions close to the supported edges
have post-buckling reserves of strength and stiffness [44]. Therefore,
the post-buckling ultimate capacity of an axial loaded steel section is
assumed to be equal to its yield stress σy multiplied by the effective area
Ae . The effective and ineffective portions of box and I sections with
concrete infill are shown in Fig. 17. The total effective area of a box
section is equal to the sum of the effective areas of its four internal plate
elements. For square box sections made with equal-thickness plates, the
effective area could be expressed as:
Ae = 4be t
For an I section (PEC section), since the web is free from local
buckling and assumed fully effective, the total effective area is equal to
the sum of the effective areas of all flange outstands and the full area of
the web, as:
Ae = 4be t + h w tw
In Eqs. (11) and (12), be is the effective width of a single plate
element, either an internal or outstand one. The first theoretical solu-
tion for the effective width was developed by von Karman [43], as:
be σ σol 1 servative predictions for both internal and outstand plates.
= u = = ≤1
b σy σy λp
in which σol is the elastic buckling stress calculated by Eq. (3) and λp is
the slenderness parameter calculated by Eq. (4).
This formula was later modified by Winter [45], as:
Fig. 17. Effective area and effective width: (a) box section (internal plate); (b) I
section (outstand plate).
Thin-Walled Structures 138 (2019) 155–169
be σ 1 0.25
= u = − ≤1
b σy λp λp2 (14)
The so called Winter formula is widely used (with modifications) by
a number of design codes for steel structures, such as Eurocode 3 (EC3)
[46] and AISC 360 [47].
5.2. Proposed effective width formulas
The ultimate stresses (equivalent to the effective width) derived
from the numerical tests are shown in Fig. 18, with the plate slender-
ness calculated by Eq. (4). The points for different steel grades are close
to each other, scattering within a narrow region. It could be observed
for both internal and outstand plates that the normalized ultimate
stresses of the higher strength steel plates are slightly higher than the
lower strength ones with the same plate slenderness, which is due to a
lower ratio of the compressive residual stress to the yield stress and thus
less significant effects of residual stresses in high strength steels. This is
in accordance with the conclusions of Rasmussen and Hancock [30].
Two different formulas were proposed to predict the effective width
of internal and outstand plates respectively, both of which could be
expressed in a modified von Karman form as:
be γ
b
= λ (15)
p
The correction factor γ for internal plates is:
0.9(λp − λp0 )1.75
γ = λp − (ifλp < λp0 , γ = λp)
λp (16)
For outstand plates:
0.95(λp − λp0)1.85
γ = λp − (ifλp < λp0 , γ = λp)
λp (17)
(11)
In Eqs. (16) and (17), the yield slenderness limits λp0 have the same
values as those in Eqs. (7) and (8), which are 0.42 for internal plates
and 0.36 for outstand plates.
Comparisons of the proposed effective width formulas with the FE
results are shown in Fig. 18, in which the curves of von Karman formula
and Winter formula are also displayed. For internal plates, both von
(12)
Karman formula and Winter formula generally overestimate the ulti-
mate strength of relatively compact plates and underestimate the
strength of slender ones. Both formulas overestimate the ultimate
strength of outstand plates in the considered slenderness range. The
proposed formulas, on the other hand, provide reasonable yet con-
(13) In Fig. 18, a comparison is also conducted between the proposed
effective width curves and the local buckling stress curves (predicted by
Eqs. (6)–(8)) in order to evaluate the post-buckling enhancement of
strength. The local buckling stress curve and the ultimate stress (ef-
fective width) curve converge at λp = λp0 , at which the enhancement
ratio σu/σol is 1. This ratio enhances as the plate slenderness increases.
For example, The value is 1.78/1.91 (internal/outstand) for λp = 1.0 ,
and 3.85/7.27 (internal/outstand) for λp = 2.0 . With this comparison,
one can find that by considering the post-buckling behavior, significant
strength enhancement could be obtained for plates with concrete infill,
especially for slender (thin) ones.
5.3. Comparisons with test results
Test results of steel sections with concrete infill from previous ex-
periments [1–3,5,10,23] were collected to validate the proposed ef-
fective width formulas. In these experiments, the ultimate capacity (or
effective area) of steel sections were obtained by either loading on the
steel only [1,2,5,10,23] or deducing the strength of concrete from the
overall strength of the composite Section [3]. The effective width of an
individual internal/outstand plate element could be derived from the
measured effective area using Eqs. (11) and (12). Geometric and ma-
terial properties of all test specimens are summarized in Tables 8 and 9
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Fig. 18. Effective widths (ultimate stresses) from FE analyses and comparisons with theoretical formulas: (a) internal plate; (b) outstand plate.

Table 8 Table 9
Properties and effective widths of previously tested specimens (internal plate). Properties and effective widths of previously tested specimens (outstand plate).
Test Specimen b/t fy (MPa) λp Test Predicted Test Specimen b/t a/b fy (MPa) λp Test Predicted
be,test be,test
be,pre be,pre/ be,pre be,pre/
be,test be,test

Bridge & B16 37.3 282 0.46 0.97 0.98 1.02 Uy [5] FI1 20 2 265 0.50 1.00 0.90 0.90
O’Shea [2] B17 56.6 282 0.70 0.92 0.80 0.87 FI2 25 2 265 0.62 0.99 0.80 0.80
B20 74.7 282 0.92 0.70 0.68 0.98 FI3 30 2 265 0.75 0.83 0.70 0.85
B5 93.4 282 1.15 0.65 0.61 0.93 FI4 35 2 265 0.87 0.71 0.64 0.90
B1 112.2 282 1.38 0.58 0.56 0.97 Tremblay C-2 23.2 1 370 0.47 1.00 0.93 0.93
B29 130.7 282 1.61 0.54 0.53 0.98 et al. [3] C-3 23.2 1.5 370 0.62 0.90 0.80 0.88
Uy [1] LB2 40 300 0.51 1.00 0.95 0.95 C-4 23.2 2 370 0.68 0.84 0.75 0.89
LB4 50 300 0.63 0.89 0.85 0.96 C-5 23.2 1 370 0.47 0.91 0.93 1.02
LB6 60 300 0.76 0.79 0.76 0.97 C-6 35.4 1.5 374 0.95 0.57 0.60 1.06
LB8 80 300 1.02 0.64 0.65 1.01 C-7 23.6 2 374 0.70 0.92 0.74 0.80
LB10 100 300 1.27 0.57 0.58 1.02 Huang et al. FI80-1 20 2 741 0.82 0.72 0.66 0.92
Uy [5] FB1 120 265 1.43 0.58 0.55 0.95 [23] FI80-2 25 2 741 1.03 0.56 0.57 1.02
FB2 140 265 1.67 0.62 0.52 0.84 FI80-3 30 2 741 1.23 0.44 0.51 1.16
FB3 160 265 1.91 0.50 0.50 1.01 FI80-4 35 2 741 1.44 0.38 0.47 1.23
FB4 180 265 2.15 0.50 0.49 0.98 Mean 0.96
Khan et al. CS15-SH(A) 15.2 762 0.30 1.00 1.00 1.00 St. Dev. 0.124
[10] CS15-SH(B) 15.2 762 0.30 1.00 1.00 1.00
CS20-SH(A) 20.2 762 0.40 1.00 1.00 1.00
CS20-SH(B) 20.4 762 0.40 1.00 1.00 1.00
6. Design recommendations
CS25-SH(A) 25.3 762 0.49 1.00 0.96 0.96
CS25-SH(B) 25.5 762 0.50 1.00 0.96 0.96
CS30-SH(A) 30.3 762 0.59 0.95 0.88 0.93 Although design methods based on post-buckling strength, e.g. the
CS30-SH(B) 30.5 762 0.60 0.98 0.88 0.89 effective width method, are widely adopted for plated structural ele-
CS40-SH(A) 40.6 762 0.79 0.70 0.75 1.07 ments in bare steel sections [46,47]. Design guidelines for composite
CS40-SH(B) 40.6 762 0.79 0.74 0.75 1.01
sections [47,48], however, generally do not permit the utilization of the
Huang et al. FB80-1 38 738 0.75 0.83 0.77 0.93
[23] FB80-2 48 738 0.94 0.82 0.68 0.82 post-buckling behavior. Eurocode 4 (EC4) [48] has provided width to
FB80-3 58 738 1.14 0.68 0.61 0.90 thickness limits to plate elements of composite sections to prevent
FB80-4 68 738 1.33 0.60 0.57 0.95 premature local buckling before section yielding, which are summar-
Mean 0.96
ized in Table 10 for internal and outstand plate elements. The corre-
St. Dev. 0.054
sponding yield slenderness limit λp0 could be calculated through Eq. (4)
as 0.576 for internal and 0.509 for outstand (without link) plates, which
for internal and outstand plates, respectively. are marked in Fig. 20 by vertical lines. It seems that the EC4 limits may
Fig. 19 shows the effective widths of the test specimens with plate be not necessarily conservative since the normalized effective width
slenderness calculated by Eq. (4), which are compared with the pro- (ultimate stress) from test/FE results ranges from 0.9 to 1 for plate
posed effective width curves. The predicted and measured effective slenderness around the limits (both internal and outstand plates). The
widths be,pre and be,test are given in Tables 8 and 9. For both internal yield slenderness limits proposed in this study, which are 0.42 (in-
and outstand plates, the predictions of the proposed formulas coincide ternal) and 0.36 (outstand), are shown in Fig. 20 to be more con-
with the test results. The average ratios of predicted to test results are servative with effective widths around the limits much closer to 1. The
0.96 for both internal and outstand plates; whist the standard devia- equivalent width-to-thickness limits in the EC4 form could be back
tions are 0.054 and 0.124 respectively for internal and outstand plates. calculated letting λp = λp0 . Results are given in Table 10, which are
Therefore, the proposed effective width formulas provide reliable and around 30% smaller than the EC4 limits. If outstand plates strengthened
basically conservative estimations to the post-buckling ultimate with links are considered, the limit would be related to the link spacing
strength. as 10.13 k ε , with k calculated by Eq. (5). For the most common con-
dition, when transverse links with intervals equal to the outstand width

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Y. Song, et al. Thin-Walled Structures 138 (2019) 155–169

Fig. 19. Comparisons of predicted and measured effective widths: (a) internal plate; (b) outstand plate.

Table 10 strength steels) in Fig. 20. Note that the plate slenderness for bare steel
Width-to-thickness limits of plates with concrete infill. sections are calculated with different buckling coefficient k (4.0 for
Plate Width-to-thickness limit internal and 0.43 for outstand plates as suggested in [46]) from those of
concrete filled sections. In order to compare the effective width curves
EC4 [48] This study of plates with different boundary conditions and different k, the plate
slenderness of unfilled plates was factored by:
Internal 52εa 38ε
Outstand 22ε 15.6ε
Outstand with link spacing a (a/b = 1) φ= kfill/ kunfill (18)
10.13 k ε (22.4ε)

a
ε= 235/σy . in which kfill and kunfill are buckling coefficients for filled and unfilled
sections respectively. By this means, filled and unfilled steel plates with
(a/b = 1) are considered, the width-to-thickness limits (22.4ε) would the same width-to-thickness ratio b/t would have the same slenderness
be around 45% higher than those without transverse link. This could λp and thus comparable in Fig. 20. The factored EC3 formulas could be
demostrate the benefits using transverse links, as much thinner plates written as:
may be used with full section strength.
be 1 0.22
Since much smaller width-to-thickness limits have been proposed in = − ≤1 (internal)
b φλp (φλp)2 (19)
this study compared with the EC4 limits. If the EC4 design approach,
i.e., neglecting the post-buckling strength, is also adopted corre-
and:
sponding with the suggested limits, it would results in a significant
increase of the plate thickness allowed and therefore leads to un- be 1 0.188
= − ≤1 (outstand )
economic design outcomes. Therefore, it is preferable to introduce the b φλp (φλp)2 (20)
effective width design using Eqs. (15–17) for plates beyond the pro-
posed slenderness limits. To demonstrate the appropriateness of uti- While Shi’s formulas are:
lizing the post-local buckling strength for steel sections filled with
concrete, the proposed effective width formulas are compared with be 0.605
= ≤ 1 (internal)
effective width formulas for bare steel sections (EC3 formulas [46] for b (φλp )0.6 (21)
normal strength steels and Shi formulas [24] for normal and high
and:

Fig. 20. Comparisons of proposed and existing design methods: (a) internal plate; (b) outstand plate.

167
Y. Song, et al.
be 0.72
= ≤1 (outstand )
b (φλp)0.35
(22)
As is obvious in Fig. 20, both internal and outstand plates with
concrete infill have significantly higher post-buckling strengths than
their unfilled counterparts. Therefore, if the utilization of the post-
buckling strength is allowed for bare steel sections, it is also reasonable
to be allowed for concreted filled sections since higher strengths could
be obtained.
7. Conclusions
The local and post-local buckling behavior of fabricated normal and
high strength steel sections filled with concrete was investigated via an
explicit dynamic FE analysis. A comprehensive parametric study as well
as numerical tests were conducted using the proposed FE model. To
predict the local buckling and ultimate strength of steel plates in con-
tact with concrete, a series of formulas were proposed, which were
verified through comparisons with the collected test data and the FE
results. Based on this study, the following conclusions can be drawn:
1. The proposed FE model could sufficiently simulate the nonlinear
local and post-local buckling behavior of normal and high strength
steel plates with concrete infill, accounting for geometric im-
perfections and residual stresses. In particular, residual stress
models were proposed for normal and high strength welded sec-
tions, accounting for both compact and slender plates. The feasi-
bility of the proposed FE model was validated through comparisons
with existing test results.
2. The effects of several important factors on the local and post-local
buckling behavior were investigated in the parametric study. It was
concluded that plates with smaller geometric imperfections and
width-to-thickness ratios, lower yield stresses, as well as smaller
aspect ratios have higher local buckling strengths and ultimate
strengths. The incorporation of residual stresses leads to decreases in
the local buckling/ultimate strengths and an increase in the ultimate
strain.
3. Numerical tests were conducted using the proposed FE model to
generate sufficient data to predict the local buckling and ultimate
strength of steel plates. Local buckling stress/strain formulas were
proposed based on the analytical data, which gave conservative
predictions compared with the test results.
4. The post-local buckling ultimate strength of slender sections were
evaluated using the effective width concept. Formulas were pro-
posed for internal and outstand plates, respectively. Values pre-
dicted by the proposed formulas showed good agreements with both
FE and test results.
5. Based on the collected data, the width-to-thickness limits (yield
slenderness limits) in EC4 for composite sections may be somewhat
unconservative and not necessarily ensure full section strength.
Alternative limits were therefore suggested which are around 30%
lower than the EC4 limits. For slender plates beyond the yield
slenderness limits, it was recommended to utilize the post-local
buckling strength using the effective width formulas proposed.
Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided
by the Key Research Project of Ministry of Science and Technology of
the People's Republic of China (No. 2016YFC0701603).
References
[1] B. Uy, Local and post-local buckling of concrete filled steel welded box columns, J.
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