Simplified design method for slender hybrid columns
Résumé
This paper deals with numerical investigations on second-order effects in slender RC columns reinforced by several steel sections, namely hybrid columns, subjected to combined axial load and uniaxial bending moment. A FE model is developed in which geometrical and material nonlinearities as well as the partial interaction effect between the steel profiles and the surrounding concrete are taken into account. This model is then used to perform an extensive numerical parametric study on the ultimate load of hybrid columns considering 1140 different data sets. The comparison between the results obtained with FE analysis and Eurocode simplified methods (moment magnification approach) shows that EC2 and EC4 methods give wide discrepancies where half of case-studies are unsafe. The aim of the paper is to extend the use of the Eurocode moment magnification method to slender hybrid column design. In this method, the second-order bending moment is calculated by multiplying the first-order one by a magnification factor k that depends on the flexural stiffness EI and the equivalent moment distribution. New expressions for the correction factors involved in the determination of the effective flexural stiffness EI are proposed and calibrated by the results of the extended parametric study with 2960 data sets. The comparison of the predictions given by the new expressions against the FE analysis shows that the proposed new expressions of correction factors for moment magnification method provides largely safe designs for slender hybrid columns.