Tests of very high strength (VHS) circular steel tubes in bending

This paper investigates the bending behavior of very high strength (VHS) circular steel tubes. The VHS tube has a normal yield stress of 1350 MPa and an ultimate strength of 1500 MPa. A total of 8 specimens, with the normal diameter ranging from 31.8 to 75 mm and the tube thickness from 1.6 to 2.0 mm, were tested. Full plastic moment was reached for tubes with a section slenderness of 197 or less. New plastic slenderness limits of 88 and 130 were proposed based on the beam plastic rotation capacity (R) of 3 and 4 respectively. A yield slenderness limit of 264 was also proposed for VHS tubes in bending.