• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.483-492
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• 2019

In the current study, the influence of the initial lateral (sweep) shape and the cross-sectional twist imperfection on the lateral torsional buckling (LTB) response of doubly-symmetric steel I-beams was investigated. The material imperfection (residual stress) was not considered. For this objective, standard European IPN 300 beam with different unbraced span was numerically analyzed for three imperfection cases: (i) no sweep and no twist (perfect); (ii) three different shapes of global sweep (half-sine, full-sine and full-parabola between the end supports); and (iii) the combination of three different sweeps with initial sinusoidal twist along the beam. The first comparison was done between the results of numerical analyses (FEM) and both a theoretical solution and the code lateral torsional buckling formulations (EC3 and AISC-LRFD). These results with no imperfection effects were then separately compared with three different shapes of global sweep and the presence of initial twist in these sweep shapes. Besides, the effects of the shapes of initial global sweep and the inclusion of sinusoidal twist on the critical buckling load of the beams were investigated to unveil which parameter was considerably effective on LTB response. The most compatible outcomes for the perfect beams was obtained from the AISC-LRFD formulation; however, the EC-3 formulation estimated the $P_{cr}$ load conservatively. The high difference from the EC-3 formulation was predicted to directly originate from the initial imperfection reduction factor and high safety factor in its formulation. Due to no consideration of geometric imperfection in the AISC-LFRD code solution and the theoretical formulation, the need to develop a practical imperfection reduction factor for AISC-LRFD and theoretical formulation was underlined. Initial imperfections were obtained to be more influential on the buckling load, as the unbraced length of a beam approached to the elastic limit unbraced length ($L_r$). Mode-compatible initial imperfection shapes should be taken into account in the design and analysis stages of the I-beam to properly estimate the geometric imperfection influence on the $P_{cr}$ load. Sweep and sweep-twist imperfections led to 10% and 15% decrease in the $P_{cr}$ load, respectively, thus; well-estimated sweep and twist imperfections should considered in the LTB of doubly-symmetric steel I-beams.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.23-36
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• 2004

The inelastic lateral-distortional buckling of doubly-symmetric hot-rolled I-section beam-columns subjected to a concentric axial force and uniform bending with elastic restraint which produce single curvature is investigated in this paper. The numerical model adopted in this paper is an energy-based method which leads to the incremental and iterative solution of a fourth-order eigenproblem, with very rapid solutions being obtained. The elastic restraint considered in this paper is full restraint against translation, but torsional restraint is permitted at the tension flange. Hitherto, a numerical method to analyse the elastic and inelastic lateral-distortional buckling of restrained or unrestrained beam-columns is unavailable. The prediction of the inelastic lateral-distortional buckling load obtained in this study is compared with the inelastic lateral-distortional buckling of restrained beams and the inelastic lateral-torsional buckling solution, by suppressing the out-of-plane web distortion, is published elsewhere and they agree reasonable well. The method is then extended to the lateral-distortional buckling of continuously restrained doubly symmetric I-sections to illustrate the effect of web distortion.

• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1440-1463
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• 2018

The Wagner coefficient is a key parameter used to describe the inelastic lateral-torsional buckling (LTB) behaviour of the I-beam, since even for a doubly-symmetric I-section with residual stress, it becomes a monosymmetric I-section due to the characteristics of the non-symmetrical distribution of plastic regions. However, so far no theoretical derivation on the energy equation and Wagner's coefficient have been presented due to the limitation of Vlasov's buckling theory. In order to simplify the nonlinear analysis and calculation, this paper presents a simplified mechanical model and an analytical solution for doubly-symmetric I-beams under pure bending, in which residual stresses and yielding are taken into account. According to the plate-beam theory proposed by the lead author, the energy equation for the inelastic LTB of an I-beam is derived in detail, using only the Euler-Bernoulli beam model and the Kirchhoff-plate model. In this derivation, the concept of the instantaneous shear centre is used and its position can be determined naturally by the condition that the coefficient of the cross-term in the strain energy should be zero; formulae for both the critical moment and the corresponding critical beam length are proposed based upon the analytical buckling equation. An analytical formula of the Wagner coefficient is obtained and the validity of Wagner hypothesis is reconfirmed. Finally, the accuracy of the analytical solution is verified by a FEM solution based upon a bi-modulus model of I-beams. It is found that the critical moments given by the analytical solution almost is identical to those given by Trahair's formulae, and hence the analytical solution can be used as a benchmark to verify the results obtained by other numerical algorithms for inelastic LTB behaviour.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.12 no.1 s.44
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• pp.29-43
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• 2000

In this study, the computationally efficient inelastic buckling analysis program is developed to be used as the research tool in finding buckling strength of inelastic members. The program can determine buckling loads and buckled shapes of elastic and inelastic members which failed by flexural, lateral-torsional and/or local buckling. It can analyze singly and doubly symmetric I-shape members. In the program, the web of the member is modeled using the plate element and the flanges are modeled by beam elements. Multilinear isotropic hardening rule and the incremental theory of plasticity are used to simulate the inelastic stress-strain relationship from material tests. The program is verified using theoretical solutions and experimental results. The results from the program show good agreement with those from experiments and theory.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.613-625
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• 2003

This paper presents the lateral-torsional buckling (LTB) of beams or girders with continuous lateral support at top flange. Traditional moment gradient factors ($C_b$) given by AISC in LRFD Specification for Structural Steel Buildings and by AASHTO in LRFD Bridge Design Specifications were reviewed. Finite-element method buckling analyses of doubly symmetric I-shaped beams with continuous top bracing were conducted to develop new moment gradient factors. A uniformly distributed load was applied at midheight and either or both end moments were applied at the ends of beams. The proposed solutions are simple and accurate for use by engineers to determine the LTB resistance of beams.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.709-718
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• 2023

The absence of an important portion of the web plate in steel beams with multiple circular perforations, cellular beams, causes the web plate to undergo distortions prior to and during lateral torsional buckling (LTB). The conventional LTB equations in the codes and literature underestimate the buckling moments of cellular beams due to web distortions. The present study is an attempt to develop analytical methods for estimating the elastic buckling moments of cellular beams. The proposed methods rely on the reductions in the torsional and warping rigidities of the beams due to web distortions and the reductions in the weak-axis bending and torsional rigidities due to the presence of web openings. To test the accuracy of the analytical estimates from proposed solutions, a total of 114 finite element analyses were conducted for six different standard IPEO sections and varying unbraced lengths within the elastic limits. These analyses clearly indicated that the LTB solutions in the AISC 360-16 and AS4100:2020 codes overestimate the buckling loads of cellular beams within elastic limits, particularly at shorter span lengths. The LDB solutions in the literature and the Eurocode 3 LTB solution, on the other hand, provided conservative buckling moment estimates along the entire range of elastic buckling.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.281-301
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• 2004

The paper begins by presenting a unified variational approach to the lateral-torsional buckling (LTB) analysis of doubly symmetric prismatic and tapered thin-walled beams with open cross-sections, which accounts for the influence of the pre-buckling deflections. This approach (i) extends the kinematical assumptions usually adopted for prismatic beams, (ii) consistently uses shell membrane theory in general coordinates and (iii) adopts Trefftz's criterion to perform the bifurcation analysis. The proposed formulation is then applied to investigate the influence of the pre-buckling deflections on the LTB behaviour of prismatic and web-tapered I-section simply supported beams and cantilevers. After establishing an interesting analytical result, valid for prismatic members with shear centre loading, several elastic critical moments/loads are presented, discussed and, when possible, also compared with values reported in the literature. These numerical results, which are obtained by means of the Rayleigh-Ritz method, (i) highlight the qualitative differences existing between the LTB behaviours of simply supported beams and cantilevers and (ii) illustrate how the influence of the pre-buckling deflections on LTB is affected by a number of factors, namely ($ii_1$) the minor-to-major inertia ratio, ($ii_2$) the beam length, ($ii_3$) the location of the load point of application and ($ii_4$) the bending moment diagram shape.