A simplified numerical method for seismic design of steel piers with octagonal cross-section

Abstract

A nonlinear FEM is employed to analyze the ultimate behavior of steel octagonal-section columns composed of plate with various width-thickness ratios. From numerical results, equivalent averaged stress-strain relations for steel octagonal-section columns including the effect of local buckling are derived. The equivalent stress-strain relations for cyclic loading are also formulated. By introducing the equivalent stress-strain relations into a frame analysis, a numerical method, which is capable of analyzing ultimate behavior consideration of local buckling, is developed. Accuracy of the proposed method is shown through several numerical examples.