Experimental investigation of aluminum alloy stub columns with circular openings

This paper describes a test program on a wide range of aluminum alloy square hollow section stub columns containing central circular openings. A total of 28 compression tests was conducted by applying uniform axial load to the specimens, which were fabricated by extrusion of square hollow sections using 6061-T6 heat-treated aluminum alloys. The column strengths; failure modes (including local buckling failure and material yielding failure); strain distribution along the quarter of square hollow sections at midheight of the columns; and load versus axial shortening curves of test specimens were obtained from the experimental investigation. The test results were compared with the design strengths calculated by using the current design rules given in the design specifications and design rules proposed by other researchers for perforated carbon steel structural members. It is shown that most of the current design rules for perforated carbon steel structural members are generally inappropriate, with comparatively high scatter of predictions for the design of perforated aluminum alloy stub columns.