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The utilisation of metal additive manufacturing in civil engineering is at an exploratory stage. Aluminium alloys, which are commonly used in building façades and offshore structures due to their excellent corrosion resistance and lightness, may find new opportunities in the construction sector with advances in metal additive manufacturing. In this study, an experimental programme and numerical investigation were performed on the structural performance of AlSi10Mg aluminium alloy angle stub columns additively manufactured by selective laser melting (SLM). Taking advantage of the flexibility in geometry design provided by SLM process, the aluminium angle specimens were devised with varying leg widths and thicknesses. The experimental programme involved tensile coupon tests, Vickers hardness tests, microstructural characterization, measurements of initial geometric imperfections and residual stresses, as well as stub column tests. The mechanical properties, microstructural morphology and compression resistances of the SLM-fabricated AlSi10Mg aluminium alloy angle specimens were extensively examined. It was revealed in the stub column tests that, when the width-to-thickness ratio of the slender legs was smaller than 17.8, the ultimate stresses of the SLM-fabricated AlSi10Mg angle specimens could exceed the static 0.2% proof stresses measured from the tensile coupon tests. Subsequently, a finite element model was developed using ABAQUS to simulate the structural behaviour of the additively manufactured aluminium alloy angles under axial compression, which was verified against the obtained stub column test results. A parametric study was conducted utilising the validated finite element model, aiming to generate additional numerical data of SLM-fabricated angle stub columns over an extended scope of geometric dimensions. Moreover, based on the established experimental and numerical database, the suitability of design provisions specified in the European Code for conventional aluminium structures and a novel direct strength method (DSM) developed in the literature for steel angle columns was assessed for the additively manufactured AlSi10Mg angles under axial compression. In the light of shortcomings in the existing design rules, a modified DSM-based approach was proposed in this study for the accurate and reliable design of additively manufactured aluminium alloy angle stub columns.
Li et al. (Wed,) studied this question.