Verification of the Ramberg-Osgood Material Model for the Fire Design of Steel Members

Abstract In this paper, the modified Ramberg-Osgood constitutive equations for calculating the stress-strain of steel at elevated temperatures using the parameters determined based on the transient state tensile test results achieved at the Helsinki University of Technology are verified. This is done by numerically comparing the global and local buckling capacities of I-shaped steel members incorporating the modified Ramberg-Osgood model along with the material model given in the fire section of Eurocode EN1993-1-2. For this purpose, a numerical model using the ABAQUS software was developed. Then, nonlinear analyses with imperfections (GMNIA) were performed to compare the buckling capacities of the steel columns and beams of four different hot-rolled cross-sections (IPE160, IPE180, HE100B, HE500B), made of steel grade S355, at three different temperatures (400°C, 500°C, 600°C). The results showed that adopting the modified Ramberg-Osgood model can lead to the same buckling capacities resulting when using the EN1993-1-2 material model for steel temperatures of less than 400°C. However, adopting this model for 600°C overestimates the buckling capacities in most cases.