Testing and Design of Stainless Steel Channel Stub Columns 3D-Printed by Wire-Laser Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing is transforming structural engineering by introducing advanced fabrication technologies for producing high-performance components. This paper experimentally investigates the load-carrying capacity of stainless steel channel stub columns three-dimensional (3D)-printed through an emerging technology—wire-laser additive manufacturing (WLAM). A testing program was conducted first, where 16 WLAM stainless steel channel stub columns were tested under compression, complemented by material coupon tests and geometric measurements. All WLAM stainless steel channel stub columns displayed local buckling failure mode. The test results served as a solid basis for a comprehensive design analysis. The applicability of existing international standards to the design of WLAM stainless steel channel sections under compression was evaluated, revealing moderate design conservatism, mainly owing to no consideration of strain-hardening effects and the inherently conservative nature of the effective width methods. The deformation-based continuous strength method was also evaluated, which was found to offer improved design accuracy over the examined international standards, primarily due to rational consideration of strain-hardening effects.