DESIGN

OF LATERALLY
RESTRAINED
BEAMS
Lecture Outline
Steel beam
Modes of failure

Local Buckling and Section Classification

Compact
Non-compact
Slender
Section capacity in bending
Steel beam
Beam (UDL - Beam
major axis loading) (couple)

Beam
(torsion)
Beam (UDL -
minor axis loading)

Beam-column
(axial compression
+ transverse loading)
Strength limit state bending
moment capacity

Design for bending strength

Design capacity > factored strength limit

state moment
Modes of failure

The usual strength modes of failure for

structural steel beams are:

• Plastification
• Local buckling
• Lateral buckling
• Web crippling
• Web local buckling under shear

We shall consider each of these strength limit states in turn.

Plastification
A steel beam may fail when the PLASTIC MOMENT
Mp develops, or when sufficient plastic hinges develop to
form a mechanism.

S – plastic section
modulus
M p = S fy
fy – yield stress
(MPa = N/mm2)

S is tabulated for most rolled sections in handbooks (mm3).

 Maximum moment
Maximum moment that can be attained is the PLASTIC MOMENT Mp

equal areas
C
h
T
plastic neutral axis

Nominal capacity Mmax = Ms = Mp

Ms is called the SECTION CAPACITY.

It is the moment to cause failure of the cross-section.
Here, Mp = C x h = T x h
Design bending capacity

However, lateral and

local buckling usually
result in lowering Mmax
below Mp.
 Local Buckling
and
Section Classification
Flange local buckling
Buckled flange

Compression flange

Buckled web
Web

Occurs in slender COMPRESSION FLANGES

 Basis of section classification
• As the plate elements are relatively thin, when loaded in
compression they may buckle locally
• The tendency of any plate element within the cross section to
buckle may limit the axial load carrying capacity, or the bending
resistance of the section, by preventing the attainment of yield.
• Avoidance of premature failure arising from the effects of local
buckling may be achieved by limiting the width-to-thickness
ratio for individual elements within the cross section.

Outstand
Outstand
Internal Internal

Internal
Web Web Internal
Web

Flange Flange Flange

Rolled I-section Hollow section Welded box section

 Plate buckling
• A thin flat rectangular plate subjected to compressive
forces along its short edges has an elastic critical buckling
stress (cr ) given by

k is the plate buckling parameter which accounts for edge

support conditions, stress distribution and aspect ratio of the
plate
How to get to that formula?!
Plate buckling in compression
Bounded plate For bounded
in uniform flanges k = 4
compression

n = number of ½ sine waves

k therefore depends on:

• Boundary conditions

• Stress distribution

• Aspect ratio
(width/thickness)
Flange local buckling

Called
FLANGE OUTSTANDS

tf
where:
k = the local buckling coefficient that depends bf
on edge and loading conditions
bf
E = Young’s modulus = 200 x 103 MPa
 = Poisson’s ratio (0.3 for steel)
Example A
What must we restrict the width to thickness ratio bf/tf in order to
ensure yielding at fyf will occur before elastic local buckling?

If buckling is to be prevented, then from:

so that (fy in MPa)

Or in other words:
 Section classification
AS4100 defines three types of cross section:
(a) COMPACT SECTION

(b) NON - COMPACT SECTION

(c) SLENDER SECTION

Section classification depends on:

• slenderness of each element (defined by a width-
to-thickness ratio)

• the compressive stress distribution

Slenderness parameter
Table 5.2 in AS4100

(Trahair and Bradford 1998)

ep – Section plasticity slenderness limit

ep – Section yield slenderness limit

Variations in ey and

ep due to residual
stress effects
Differences between Hot-rolled, Cold-formed and Stress Relieved
Slenderness parameter
Hot rolled steel is steel that has been roll-pressed at very high temperatures
and then allowed to cool at room temperature after processing. Therefore,
there is less control over its final shape, making it less suitable for precision
applications. It is usually used for large-scale structural element and it is
cheaper than Cold-formed steel.

Cold rolled steel is essentially hot rolled steel that has been through further
processing. Once hot rolled steel has cooled, it is then re-rolled at room
temperature to achieve more exact dimensions and better surface qualities.

Stress relieving is a heat treating process that consists of heating the steel to a
temperature below the critical range to relieve the residual stresses resulting
from hot rolling, welding, shearing, or gas cutting.
 Section classification
(a) COMPACT SECTION
These sections allow the FULL PLASTIC MOMENT Mp and
for the strain hardening region to be entered before
ELASTIC BUCKLING occurs.

Moment M -  of a
PLASTIC SECTION

MP
Inelastic local
MY buckling well into the
strain-hardening
range

curvature -
 Compact Section
The section slenderness is governed by:

ep = 10 [stress-relieved flanges]

=9 [hot-rolled]
=8 [welded]
The difference is due to initial geometric out-of-straightness and
to different residual stresses.
The limits on ep are much ‘tighter’ than when cr = fy in Example A
because higher strains at fy are needed to make local buckling occur in
the strain hardening region.

(The 1.5 limit was introduced based on a solid

rectangular section)
Example

530UB92.4
Sx = 2370 x 103 mm3
Zx = 2080 x 103 mm3
fyf = 300 MPa

209

So, the section is COMPACT.

502
533

10.2
1.5Zx > Sx , So:

209
Section classification
(b) NON-COMPACT SECTION
These sections allow the FIRST YIELD MOMENT My to be reached,
but buckle locally before Mp can be attained.
Their moment/curvature response is:
The design
Real behavior
equation is then:
Moment

MP
MS
MY Linear and for a
approximation NON-COMPACT
Inelastic local SECTION
buckling

y curvature -
Non-compact section
For non-compact sections:

The limits are therefore

ey = 16 [most flange outstands]
= 15 [welded flange outstands]

N.B. We saw in Example A that first yield [MY ] and elastic local buckling
coincided when , or

This is close to the above limits.

Ze is the effective section modulus for a

compact section

Z is the elastic section modulus

 Section classification
(b) SLENDER SECTION
These sections buckle locally even before the yield stress (and My) are reached.

The moment/curvature response is:

For slender
Moment sections:

M- of a SLENDER SECTION

MP
MY
and for a
SLENDER
Buckling failure prior to MY SECTION:

curvature -
 Slender section
The effective section modulus may be calculated by two methods:

Method 1:
An effective width approach omits from each flange the width in excess of
that which corresponds to ey.

be be
tf
compression flange (partially effective, 2be)

ineffective (ignore)

tension flange (fully effective, b)

 Slender section
The effective width be is defined such that:

or

Although accurate, the method may be cumbersome for beam cross-sections

as the effective section becomes MONOSYMMETRIC, i.e.

Need to calculate new centroid and I:

Centroid of
original yC
section

Centroid of
and since
yT
defective
section
Slender section
Method 2:
An easier and simpler method to use:

where Z is the elastic modulus calculated for the

full symmetric section.
 Section classification based on web
slenderness
So far we have considered the compression flange which
may buckle locally under UNIFORM STRESS.

The web is subjected to bending stress (compression along one

edge, tension along the other edge) and may also buckle locally.

C C
web
T T

Under bending, the coefficient k in web is approximately 23.9.

Web local buckling

Stocky flange
Slender
web Buckled web

Stocky flange occurs in slender webs

with large bending
and/or shear stress
 Section classification based on web
slenderness
Webs can be classified similarly to flanges as:

COMPACT:
The limits are:
NON-COMPACT:

SLENDER:

tw
dw
Section classification based on web
slenderness
For a SECTION to be COMPACT:
both the FLANGES and WEB must be compact.

For a SECTION to be NON-COMPACT:

EITHER the FLANGE or WEB or BOTH are non-compact.

For a SECTION TO BE SLENDER:

EITHER the FLANGE or WEB or BOTH are slender.

Compact flange i.e. this SECTION

is classified as
Slender web SLENDER
Example
Calculate the design bending (section) capacity for
the cross-section shown.
240 fy = 250 MPa throughout

Flange: (ep)f = 8 Web: (ep)w = 82

8
10 (ey)f = 15 (ey)w= 115
240
Example
Example
Box-cross-sections
For the compression flange, k = 4.0
For the web in bending, k = 23.9

compression
bf flange
b

bf
d
tf

Welded box column in Rectangular (or square) hollow

bending section [RHS or SHS]
Box-cross-sections
For the compression flange, k = 4.0
The classifications are the same as for flange outstands, but with:

ey = 45 [ hot-rolled]
ep = 30 = 40 [ lightly welded]
= 35 [ heavily welded]

COMPACT if

again NON-COMPACT if

SLENDER if

The webs of box cross-sections are clearly the same as those of I-sections.