Finite element analysis and proposed design rules for 304D high-strength stainless steel I-shaped members in shear

The stainless steel I-shaped members are extensively used as plate girders due to their excellent performance. However, traditional stainless steel is often expensive and has a relatively low yield strength, limiting their application. In recent years, a new type of austenitic high-strength stainless steel named 304D (08Cr19Mn6Ni3Cu2N) was developed and extensively used. This new material has similar anti-corrosion properties as S30408 stainless steel, but has a lower cost and higher yield strength. However, no work has been undertaken on the shear resistance and design of such members. The material property and chemical property of such 304D members are quite different from those of traditional stainless steel, which may result in different performance in shear resistance. Hence, a total of six tensile coupon tests were performed to obtain the material properties of 304D high-strength stainless steel. Finite element (FE) models were established and validated against the corresponding test data reported by the authors and other researchers, although they are only traditional stainless steel. A comprehensive parametric analysis including 576 FE models was performed to examine the influences of the critical parameters on the shear resistance of such members. The results suggested that the shear resistance of 304D members increased by 61% on average, compared to S30408 members. The parametric analysis results were further used to assess the existing design methods in the GB 50017 (2017), EN 1993-1-4 + A1 (2015), ANSI/AISC 360–16 (2016), ANSI/AISC 370–21 (2021) and those proposed by Chen et al. (2018). Upon comparison, it was demonstrated that the existing design methods were generally over-conservative for predicting the shear resistance of such members. Design formulas were therefore proposed by modifying the original design eqs. A reliability analysis was then performed, indicating that the modified equations can closely predict the shear resistance of such members.