Flexural capacity of perforated aluminium CHS tubes–An experimental study

Abstract

This paper presents the results of twelve experimental tests on theflexural capacity of perforated aluminiumcircular hollow section (CHS) tubes; four of which were carried out without perforations. Two heat-treatedaluminium alloys were used: 6061-T6 and 6063-T5. The tests covered the size and number of perforations. Theflexural capacity, failure modes, and the distribution of strains around circular perforations were determined.The experimental results were then compared against the design strengths calculated from the North AmericanSpecification (NAS) for cold-formed steel (CFS) sections with perforations, derived from modified DirectStrength Method (DSM) and modified Continuous Strength Method (CSM) for aluminium alloy members withperforations, which were found to be conservative by approximately 23%, 27% and 22%, respectively. Whenstrength reduction factors were applied, and the unified design equations proposed by Zhou and Young wereused, the reduction in strength was 6% conservative to the test strengths