Derivation of stainless steel material factors for European and US design standards

Modern structural design standards are based on the Limit State Design (LSD) philosophy, also known as Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD), which involves the use of resistance functions with accompanying safety factors that are based on a statistical evaluation of relevant experimental data, carried out within the framework of a probabilistic reliability theory. This paper presents the derivation of material factors for the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of austenitic, duplex and ferritic stainless steels, and their associated coefficients of variation (COV) for use in evaluating the safety factors for the European design code EN 1993-1-4 and the American design codes Specification for Structural Stainless Steel Buildings (ANSI/AISC 370-21) and Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Stainless Steel Structural Members (ASCE/SEI 8-22). Separate material factors and associated COV values are required for the U.S. and European design codes due to the different minimum specified strength values that are given in the respective product standards. The material factors were derived by analysing a large amount of material data provided by different stainless steel producers, which encompassed a wide range of stainless steels and material thicknesses.