Research on Residual Stress of a BS700 Butt-Welded Box Section and Its Influence on the Stability of Axial Compression Members

BS700 high-strength steel is widely used in engineering. Welding residual stress during the manufacturing process has a significant influence on the structural safety and service life of steel structures. In this study, the residual stress of a BS700 butt-welded box section axial compression member was studied by the blind-hole method, its distribution law was summarized, and a residual stress distribution model was established. By establishing a finite element model considering initial geometric imperfection and residual stress, the influence of residual stress on the stability of axial compression members was analyzed. The results illustrated that the residual tensile stress near the weld in the welded box section axial compression members was the largest: the average residual tensile stress reached 76.6% of the measured steel yield strength, the residual tensile stress at the roof and web were almost the same, and the residual tensile stress at the corner was approximately 11.6% of the measured yield strength. The residual stress had a different influence on the stability factor of the axial compression members with different width-thickness ratios, and the influence decreased with the increase in the width-thickness ratio. In addition, when the slenderness ratio of members ranged between 20 and 70, the residual stress had a significant influence on the stability of members, while outside that interval, the influence was relatively small.