Full characterisation of stainless steel bolts for resilient and sustainable steel structures
Project ID: 2228cd1271 (You will need this ID for your application)
Under Offer
Research Theme: Engineering
UCL Lead department: Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering (CEGE)
Lead Supervisor: Katherine Cashell
Project Summary:
The aim of this research is to produce reliable and full characterisation of the mechanical behaviour of stainless steel bolts, including fracture, which can be employed to design sustainable and resilient steel and stainless steel hybrid structures.
The project complements the current EPSRC-funded RESIST project, which focusses on improving the resilience of steel structures through strategic use of inherently durable and ductile stainless steel at the joints. Through RESIST, it has become evident that bolts, which are traditionally made of carbon steel, can have a significant influence on the overall stability and survival of a steel building during an extreme event (fire, flood, earthquake, etc.). Stainless steel is more ductile (and durable) than carbon steel, and has significant potential to improve the joint behaviour and delay catastrophic failure.
Before this can be exploited in practice, there is essential information and analysis currently missing. Accordingly, the PhD student will conduct testing at UCL to ascertain the full stress-strain characteristics (up to fracture) of stainless steel bolts for the first time. This requires testing in both regular and notched/grooved specimens to determine the characteristics and fracture strains under different stress-states. This information is not available, and is very much a new topic in the field of structural engineering. Based on the data, the student will develop a Lode angle Modified Void Growth Model which can be employed in joint design models (i.e. the generalised component method) to accurately predict the full-range force-displacement behaviour of bolted joints, capturing all relevant limit states (bolt shear, bearing, shear-out, net section fracture, and block shear limit states).
The PhD student will gain skills in experimental, analytical and numerical research, as well as the opportunity to collaborate with the UCL and external RESIST partners.
The outcomes will be fed directly to the EN1993-1-4 and EN1993-1-8 design committees.