The new buckling curves for cold-formed stainless steel equal-leg angle columns

The design rules for centrically compressed stainless steel equal-leg angle members are not explicitly stated in the current European standard SRPS EN 1993-1-4. This paper summarizes the results of extensive research conducted on this type of structural elements aiming to define recommendations for their design. Based on a systematic experimental investigation, a detailed numerical analysis was performed, and a database of columns’ resistances were defined. Material and geometric nonlinear analysis included three key stainless steel alloys, austenitic, ferritic and duplex. The design curves for flexural and flexural–torsional buckling check have been proposed in accordance with European codified procedures.