Residual stresses of welded I-sections and their influences on the stability behaviour of structural members

Residual stresses arise during the fabrication of welded steel members with I-section. These residual stresses significantly influence the stability behaviour of both steel columns and beams. Current re-sidual stress models are neither validated for normal-strength and high-strength steels nor for state-of-the-art manufacturing processes. Within the scope of this dissertation, influencing factors for re-sidual stresses were identified on the basis of experiments and a comprehensive database compiled from the literature. A novel residual stress model was developed, which considers these influencing factors and is applicable in research and engineering practice. Furthermore, the effects of residual stresses on the stability behaviour of steel columns and beams were investigated. The application of the developed residual stress model in investigations of load-bearing behaviour leads to an economi-cal and safe design of steel members.