12.07: Numerical assessment of stayed austenitic steel columns

ABSTRACT The use of prestressed steel stayed columns systems in construction has numerous advantages related to its light weight, load bearing capacity and assembly process flexibility. A practical application of these structural systems could be recently observed in Brazil for the erection of the Rock in Rio III world stage. In this event the use of prestressed stayed carbon steel columns were used for temporary shoring, optimizing the erection sequence. The main stage had a 82 meters span with a 40 m clear height and a 4500 m2 area. Two stayed column were used, both with a 20 m length. Up to the present the majority of investigations of these stayed systems have been focused on carbon steel columns. In view of these facts the present paper aimed to present an investigation of the structural behaviour of columns made with the austenitic stainless steel. Numerical models were developed in the Ansys software, focusing on the structural system load carrying capacity and the optimal level of prestress to be used. The optimal level of prestress to be used was also determined considering the influence of initial imperfections. The results confirmed that the use of prestress in the cables significantly enhance the ultimate loads and ductility capacity of the columns.