The Development of the Direct Strength Method for Welded Steel Members

The direct strength method (DSM) has been adopted by the NAS (2004) and AS/NZS 4600 (2005) for the design of cold-formed steel members. The method can be successfully applied to the design of welded steel members. This paper reviews the development of the DSM for welded steel structural members. The design strength formulae for welded section columns and beams for the DSM are based on the test results performed on welded H-section, C-section, circular and rectangular hollow section columns, plate girders and stiffened plates. The comparison between the design strength of welded sections predicted by the DSM and that estimated by existing specifications is also provided. The comparison verifies that the DSM can properly predict the compressive, flexural and shear strength of welded section columns and beams with the interaction between local and overall buckling.