ELASTIC LATERAL-TORSIONAL BUCKLING STRENGTH OF H-SHAPED BEAM WITH ITS TOP FLANGE’S SIDE-SWAY RESTRAINED

This paper describes a methodology to evaluate the elastic lateral-torsional buckling strength of the H-shaped beam whose top flange is restrained on its side-sway along the member axis. The methodology is based on energy method applying unique sine series as a new displacement function which is able to describe the buckling modes under various conditions. With this displacement function, a high-precision closed-form strength equation for any loading condition and boundary condition can be obtained. To clarify the accuracy of the proposed equation, finite element buckling analyses are conducted.