Author Description

This dissertation, "Behaviour of High Strength Steel Columns at Elevated Temperatures" by Ju, Chen,, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract of thesis entitled BEHAVIOUR OF HIGH STRENGTH STEEL COLUMNS AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURES Submitted by Ju Chen for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Hong Kong in April 2007 In this study, the structural behaviour of high strength steel columns at elevated temperatures is investigated. The current fire resistant design rules for steel columns in most of the specifications are generally based on the investigation of hot-rolled steel having normal strength. Although similarities between the conventional normal strength and high strength steel exist, there is sufficient diversity in their mechanical properties for different treatments in design. Therefore, there is a need to develop the design rules of high strength steel columns at elevated temperatures. Material properties play an important role in the performance of steel structural members. Hence, an extensive material test program was first performed on high strength steel at elevated temperatures. The high strength steel includes cold-formed steel, stainless steel as well as quenched and tempered carbon steel. Structural carbon steel having normal strength was also tested for comparison. The mechanical properties and stress-strain curves of the tested steel were obtained and compared with predictions from the American, Australian, British and European specifications. In addition, equations predicting the mechanical properties and stress-strain curve mode