Residual stress of cold-formed thick-walled steel rectangular hollow sections

This paper presents the experimental and numerical study on the distribution of transverse and longitudinal residual stresses in cold-formed thick-walled structural steel rectangular hollow sections manufactured by indirect technique. Hole-drilling method is employed to measure the magnitude of the transverse and longitudinal surface residual stress distribution, and the effects of the residual stresses are evaluated qualitatively by sectioning method. It is shown that compared to normal cold-formed thin-walled structural hollow sections (SHS), the cold-formed thick-walled SHS has similar level of residual stress in the flat area but higher residual stresses in the corner and welding areas. Both the transverse and longitudinal residual stresses tend to open the section. In order to predict the surface residual stresses in the corners of the cold-formed thick-walled SHS, an analytical model is developed. 2D finite element simulation of the cold bending process is conducted to validate the analytical approach. It is shown that in analyzing bending for thick-walled sections, shifting of neutral axis must be considered, since it would lead to nonlinear and non-symmetrical distribution of stresses through the thickness. This phenomenon leads to the fact that cold-formed thick-walled SHSs has different distribution and magnitude of the residual stresses from the cold-formed thin-walled SHSs.