Residual Stresses in Welded I‐section Members with Flame‐cut Flanges

Abstract The residual stress distribution influences substantially the stability behavior of steel members. Its shape, directly impacted by the fabrication process, is very different in hot‐rolled and welded members. Among welded members, flame‐cut flanges and hot‐rolled flanges are commonly employed in practice. However, buckling curves of Eurocode 3 are based on experimental tests and numerical simulations performed on welded members having hot‐rolled flanges only and lead to conservative results comparatively to the previous French design standards but also to hot‐rolled members. Investigations are strongly needed to adapt the existing buckling curves to welded members using flame‐cut flanges and a first step is to estimate the residual stress distribution in such members. The results available in the literature dealing with residual stresses measurements in welded members with flame‐cut flanges investigate stocky profiles that can be far from common practice, welded members being preferably slender sections. This paper presents the results of an experimental campaign on residual stresses performed on eight slender welded members varying the flange width and thickness as well as the flange type : hot‐rolled or flame‐cut. The measurements were performed using the sectioning method. A new model for residual stress distribution in welded I‐section members with flame‐cut flanges is then proposed based on these tests results and existing data from the literature.