Stability of thin-walled

members having arbitrary

flange shape and flexible
x reb
C. K. Chin, F. G. A. AI-Bermani and S. Kitipornchai
Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland,
Australia
(Received September 1990, revised November 1990)

A finite element method is presented for analysing thin-walled structural members comprising a flexible web connected to one or two
rigid flanges of arbitrary shape. A general thin-walled beam-column
element is used to model the flanges while a thin plate element is used
to model the web. Based on the derived total potential energy functional, explicit linear and geometric stiffness matrices for the two
types of element are obtained. Using static condensation and
appropriate transformations, the beam-column element and the plate
element are combined to yield a super element with 22 degrees of
freedom capable of modelling the flexural, torsional, web distortional
and coupled web and flange local buckling modes of a general thinwalled member. The technique may be used to predict the elastic
buckling load of members under any loading and boundary conditions.
Several numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the accuracy, efficiency and versatility of the method.

Keywords: beam-column, bifurcation analysis, finite element, buckling, plate, stability, thin-walled member, web distortion

Elastic buckling analyses of general thin-walled structures do not usually consider cross-sectional
distortion I-6. This assumption is valid for members
with relatively compact or rigid cross-sections. In the
case of fabricated girders or general thin-walled built-up
sections such as those shown in Figure 1, however,
where the webs are relatively slender, the buckling
mode is likely to consist of lateral translation and twist
accompanied by web distortion (see Figure 2a) or coupled
web and flange local buckling (see Figure 2b). Web
distortion is also important in heavily loaded beams
where one of the flanges is partially restrained 7-9 (see
Figure 2c).
Several finite element methods have been presented to
study the effect of web distortion. Johnson and Will ~
discretized the flanges and web into thin plate elements
thus permitting the entire cross-section to distort freely.
Many degrees of freedom (d.o.f.) are needed, however,
to model the member distortional buckling behaviour
accurately. Akay et al. i~ used one-dimensional
elements to model the flange and plate elements to model
the web. The web was discretized vertically into several
plate elements. Local and distortional buckling modes of
the web were predicted.

The finite strip method 12:3 was employed by

Hancock 14 to study local, distortional, and flexuraltorsional buckling of simply supported I-section
members under uniform moment. Due to the restrictive

)
(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure I Thin-walled sections with arbitrary flange shapes and

flexible web

0 1 4 1 - 0 2 9 6 / 9 2 / 0 2 0 1 2 1 ~12
Q 1992 B u t t e r w o r t h - H e i n e m a n n Ltd

Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 2

121

Stability o f thin-walled members: C. K. Chin et al.

WT

WT= 0
'1

"

" I'

'

WT= 0

I[ii
!

1
T W B -1

T 0

ii,

OxB/
1

WB=OxB=O

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 2 Buckling modes

nature of the assumed Fourier series displacement functions, the method cannot readily be applied to other
loading and boundary conditions. An approximate
energy method for analysing the effect of web distortion
on the buckling of doubly symmetric I-beams subject to
uniform moment and axial compressive loading has been
presented by Hancock et al.'5. Bradford and
T rahair 16.17 investigated the influence of web distortion
on the buckling behaviour of general thin-walled open
sections by treating the flange as an assembly of rectangular strips connected together.
This paper presents a finite element method for
analysing thin-walled structural members composed of a
flexible web connected to one or two rigid flanges of
arbitrary shape (Figure 1). A 3-node general thin-walled
beam-column element is used to model the flange. The
element has 7 d.o.f, at each end and a single axial d.o.f.
at the mid-length node located along the element centroidal axis. The out-of-plane bending of the web plate
is modelled using a single thin plate element having 4
corner nodes with 4 d.o.f, per node. The in-plane membrane stiffness is modelled using 3 mid-height nodes
with 3 d.o.f, at each end and a single d.o.f, at the centre.
Using static condensation and appropriate transformations, the beam-column element and the thin plate element are combined to yield a 22 d.o.f, super element
capable of modelling the elastic lateral, web distortional
and coupled web and flange local buckling behaviour of
general thin-walled structural members.

for the out-of-plane plate bending; and Bernoulli's

assumptions are valid for the in-plane membrane stiffness. The assumptions of homogeneous, elastic and
isotropic material and of conservative loading are made
for all elements.
Figure 3 shows a 3-node 15 d.o.f, line element of
general thin-walled open section used to model the
flange. The right-hand orthogonal coordinate system x,
y, z is chosen so that y and z pass through the end crosssection shear centres of the element before deformation,
S and S', and are parallel to the principal y and ~ axes
of the cross-section. A parallel set of axes :~, 3~,, pass
through the end cross-section centroids of the element,
C and C'.
Let v and w denote the displacements of the shear
centre of the flange element in the y and z directions, Ox
the angle of twist about the shear centre axis, u the axial
displacement along the centroidal axis CC', and 0y and
0z the rotations about ~ and ~ axes of the element.
Let Um be the axial displacement at the mid-length node
along the centroidal axis of the element. Seven actions
(Fx, Fy, Fz, M~, My, M z and M=) with corresponding

Mya,Oya

I End , Y- .Y
!Node a ~ ~ , u a

Problem formulation

z I

Element reference axes and basic assumptions

The following assumptions are made for the beamcolumn flange element

the element, but not necessarily the member, is

prismatic and straight
cross-sections of the flanges are rigid
Vlasov's assumption 's of negligible shear strain in
the middle surface is valid
shear deformations of cross-sections are negligible if
the element is applied to thin-walled closed sections.

For the web plate element, the following assumptions

are made: Kirchhoff's plate assumptions remain valid

122 Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 2

Centroidal /
'

End

,.

I/

,;//-

^. ~ ~ m /

-Mzb.ezb
Yt / Y

,/ /
,

$~-..--F
\ za.Wa

,/fM=a.Oxa

~Shear Centre/

Axe,/

F x/b , U b / ~ R'/Fzh,Wh
,~..,,._.. zb
b

/.

/ / /"i~xL. ' ' 48~. ~

~//

p/ Mwb,exb
X

Figure 3

General thin-walled beam-column element

Stability of thin-walled members: C. K. Chin et al.

y5

iyT2,0yT2

tW

ixT2
FzT2,0~ ' ~W" T" 2 x T 2 j ~

in which

0.~ 1 i /

x
Figure 4

eNij = l/2(Uk, i Uk,j)

(4b)

Stiffness matrices for flange element

11

(4a)

Fyi,Vi

Mzi,Ozi~
tl

eL,, = I/2(ui.j + uj.i)

~-

Uk

Figure 3 shows a general thin-walled beam-column element used to model the flange. Since the element is
basically a line element, the components e,.,., ez= and
3'yz of the strain tensor are zero and the matei:ial matrix
is a diagonal matrix, i.e.

Z__

E32 / / . ~

[D]=[E

Rectangularthin plateelement

displacement components (u, v, w, 0~, Oy, 0 z and

O0~/Ox) can be applied at each end of the element as
shown in Figure 3.
Figure 4 shows a 23 d.o.f, rectangular thin plate
element used to model the web. The right-hand orthogonal coordinate system x, y, z is chosen so that x and
y pass through the web middle surface along the sides of
the rectangular plate element. A parallel set of axes ,
y, ~ is chosen so that the axis passes through the web
mid-height nodes as shown in Figure 4. Four actions
(Fz, Mx, My and M~) with corresponding displacement
components (w, Ox, 0r and OOx/OX) can be applied at
each corner node of the thin plate element. In addition,
three actions (Fx, Fy and Mz) with corresponding displacement components (u, v and 0~) can be applied at
the two end nodes of the web mid-height. A displacement, uk, can be applied at the central mid-height node
along the $ axis.

Total potential energy

The total potential energy of a continuum can be expressed as
11 = U - V

({eLlr[D] {eLl +2{olr{eu})dv

~ = V -- OxZ

(6a)

~=w+Oxy

(6b)

av

aw

- -

0x

y = y - yo
= z - Zo

(7a)
(7b)

Yo, Zo are coordinates of the centroid relative to the

shear centre of the element and o~s is the sectorial coordinate.
The direct and the shear stresses acting at any point of
the flange element in generalized principal coordinates 3~
and ~ are

+ (-1%o, + MyO2)
y

M,~w,

(2)

(3)

(8a)

(8b)

7xy -- Aff

in which {o} are the cartesian components of the

Cauchy stress tensor in the deformed state, [D] is the
material matrix, v is the volume of the continuum, and
{eLI and [eN] are the linear and nonlinear components
of the strain tensor, respectively.
The general expression for the strain-displacement
relation in a continuum can be written in indicial form 19

(6c)

in which

(1)

e0 = %,j + eN,,

(5)

in which E and G are the Young's modulus and the shear

modulus of the material, respectively.
For small but finite deformations, the displacements
a, ~ and ~, of an arbitrary point on the cross-section may
be expressed in terms of the axial displacement of the
centroid, u, the shear centre displacements, v and w, and
the angle of twist, Ox, about the shear centre axis, thus

in which U is the strain energy stored in the continuum

and V is the potential of the external loading. For a continuum, the strain energy, U, is given by
U=~

G GI

gzb
7-xz = - -

(8c)

AI

in which

pl=l--

Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 2

(9a)

123

Stability of thin-walled members: C. K. Chin et al.

X

P2 = L

(9b)

L is the length of the element, As the cross-sectional

area of the flange element, Iri and Izy the second
moments of area about the principal )~ and Z axes of the
flange element, respectively, given by
l'f= f~ g2 dA

respectively

r~=

I.J'Ar (Y2 + Z2)dA

terms/~y, /~z and/3~ are given by

The

13y = ~

(10a)

(13)

(g3 + gy2) dA + 2Zo

(14a)

/3z=/~4.i'A' (23+yg2) dA+2yo

(14b)

I IA~w,(372+ gz) dA

(14c)

/.4=

jA y2 dA

(10b)

/3~ = ~

and I~ is the warping section constant, given by

I~ =

IAj ~ s2dA

(11)

The subscripts a and b refer to the far and near nodes of

the flange element, respectively, (see Figure 3).
Substituting equations (3) and (5)-(8) into (2) and
neglecting the higher-order and less significant terms,
the expression for strain energy U~ of the flange element may be obtained as follows

To solve equation (12), the following interpolation

functions to approximate the displacement fields are
adopted: a quadratic interpolation polynomial (f2) for
axial displacement u and a Hermifian interpolation
polynomial (f3) for the transverse displacements v, w
and the angle of twist Ox. The displacement fields can
be expressed

/ut[

(f3>

/O:v\Z

'

us=2 [

/02w\2

<z>

Gj(OO~) z] dx

}/,u.,
Iw, lI

~3)

ox

"taxi
[OzO'"x2

Ivel

{Ox<l]

(15)

in which

0r(0 v CwV

{u<} =(Ua Um Ub) r

{v<} = ( v a 0za Vb Ozb>r
{%1 = (w, -Oy. w b --Oyb)r

T JoL\~/ + \OxJ
+ 00,

2yo

ax

Ow

g.

- 2Zo

Ov

dx
+ r~ OxxJJ

OOx ( ~av- 7 - & aoq

+ l'o M~aO,~

[0xe} =

OxJ

.loM~oo,~
oo(ow
+7 ax ) dx
Mzboz--

+t
au av d x -

Ox

2 ax/

Oxxl

(16d)

2p2) 4pip2

- P2(Pi - 02))

(17a)

(fs) = ((3 - 2p,) p~p~p2 (3 - 2p2)p~ - p,p~L)

cgx

<f2)= (PI( 1 -

l~MybP2OXX
OOx(~
~,, Ox}
~X-2

O0x~ 0x~ 00x~\r

0~.

and

(16a)
(16b)
(16C)

(l'Ib)

Substituting equation (15) into (12) and integrating,

the expression for the strain energy Uyof the flange element may be written as

dx

I'o(

Us= % lrsi r[gLs + goi]

OW

Ox

Irsi

(18)

in which I t s and K~s are the linear and geometric stiffness matrices of the flange element, and
is the

on o;)

{r;I

lo(Fzb Oxv+ O--x

nodal displacement vector for the flange element

(12)

I rs} =(ua

u,, us Vo O~a Vb Ozb W~

O.v~

in which J is the St. Venant torsion constant and r~ is

the polar radius of gyration about the shear centre,

124

Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 2

.00xbk) r

wb 0,, Ox~ 00~. O~b

"
~
" ~I

(19)

Stability of thin-walled members: C. K. Chin et al.

The expression for the total potential energy for the

flange element according to equation (1) can thus be expressed as
H = V=lr/]r[K:+ Kcyllr/] - [r/lrlF:]

(20)

Because the strain components %y, e=, %~ and "ty~are

taken to be zero, the material matrix is a diagonal
matrix, i.e.

[D] = [ E

G]

(27)

in which {Fy] is the nodal force vector

My~ F~b Myb M~. M~

M~b M,~b)r

Substituting equations (3) and (24)- (27) into (2), and

neglecting higher-order terms, the expression for the
membrane strain energy Um may be obtained

(21)

[Kf+ K~f] Irf} = {F/I

+ f rn, ?Vw

(22)

in which the linear and geometric stiffness matrices Kq

and Kc/can be derived explicitly.

Stiffness matrices for web plate element

Figure 4 shows a fiat plate element for modelling the
web. Assuming no coupling between the membrane and
the out-of-plane bending stiffnesses, the strain energy of
the element can be represented by adding the membrane
strain energy to the out-of-plane bending strain
energy 2, i.e.

U~ = U~ + Up

:,,wVl

e< \ ax / + el '\ o-Z; ) J

Um=

Invoking the equilibrium condition, one obtains

(23)

30L 2

\ ax I

Ou. Ov4

(28)

- Fyj Ox ax J dx

Using a quadratic interpolation function (f~) for the

axial displacement, Uw, and a Hermitian interpolation
polynomial function (f3) for the transverse displacement, v~, the displacement field can be expressed as
IvUWl=[ (f2)

(f3)] f{uel](tvel)

(29)

in which
(30a)
(30b)

{Ue} = ( U i Uk Uj) T

{ve} =(vi

Ou vj 0v) r

Membrane stiffness. Following Bernoulli's assumptions,

the displacements of an arbitrary point on the crosssection of the thin plate element in the :~ and y directions
(see Figure 4) because of in-plane membrane stretching
can be written in terms of the in-plane displacements of
the plate centroidal axis, Uw and v~, i,e.

Ovw
a = Uw - Y - _

Ox

IFml = [Kt +

(31)

[rml

in which
(24a)

= v.,

(24b)

~, = 0

(24c)

The direct and shear stresses acting on the plate can

be expressed as:
o,= = F~ + (Mup ' _ M~/p2) y---

(25a)

%' = Fyj
Aw

(25b)

.,'14,

Substituting equation (29) into (28) and integrating, the

equilibrium equation for the membrane actions can be
written as

in which

IFml =(Fx,
{r,~] =(ui

Fxk

Fy, Mz; F,j

T (32)

Uk Uj Vi Ozi Vj Oz,j) T

(33)

The linear and geometric stiffness matrices, K ~ and

Ko,, for the in-plane plate membrane stiffness can be
derived explicitly.

Out-of-plane bending stiffness. Following Kirchhoff's

hypothesis of negligible transverse shear deformation, a
line normal to the plate undeformed middle surface is
assumed to remain normal to the deformed middle
surface 21. Therefore, the displacements of an arbitrary
point on the cross-section of the thin plate element (see
Figure 4) in the x, y and z directions due to out-of-plane
plate bending can be written in terms of the middle surface out-of-plane displacement, w~, i.e.
OW w

lz~ = dla,. 372 dA

(26)

a = -z --

8x

aWw

A~ is the cross-sectional area of the web. The

subscripts i and j refer to the far and near nodes along
the :~ axis (see Figure 4).

(34a)

~7 = - z - ay

(34b)

~v = Ww

(34c)

Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 2

125

Stability of thin-walled members: C. K, Chin et al.

The direct and shear stresses acting on the plate can

be expressed as in equation (25), taking %y = trzz = r,~
= ry~ = 0. The material matrix can be written as

[D ] = 1

//2

1
0

0[

in which
(41a)

hw
~2- y

0
1-v
2

in which v is Poisson's ratio.

Substituting equations (3), (25), (34) and (35) into (2)
and neglecting higher-order terms, the expression for
the thin plate bending strain energy Up can be obtained

(41b)

hw

(35)

and (f3) is given in equation (17b). The subscripts T,

B, 1 and 2 refer to the t_op, bottom, far and near ends,
respectively.
Substituting equation (38) into (36) and integrating,
the equilibrium of the out-of-plane actions can be
expressed as
IG} = [K,. +

K~.] Ir.I

(42)

in which

+ 2v 02ww o2Ww "q-2(1 -|---|[I/02Ww\2q

")\'xayf J dx dy

'x' 'y2
+,w
+
2 aojo L\Aw
+

{Fp} = ( F z B I Mym Fz~2 Mys2 Mxs , M=B ,

M~ M~ r~. M:~ F: M:~

(Mz:,-,,.,.,q( 4'

Mxn M~n Mxr2 M~r2) r

Iz~/\~x/

2Fy, OWwOWw]
dx dy
A w ax ayJ

(36)

Ire} = ( w i n

in which

Dw -

(37)

Eta

12(1 - v2)

tw, L and hw are the thickness, length and height of the

thin plate element, respectively, (see Figure 4).
To solve equation (36), Hermitian interpolation polynomial functions (f3) and (N3) are used to approximate the displacement fields in the x and y directions,
respectively, i.e.

OyBI WB2 ORB'2

(43)

ooxnl
Ox

OxB2 ax

wn Oyn w~ Oyr2 Oxr~

aO~n 0~
Ox

O0xn~r
o-X-x~

(44)

The linear and geometric stiffness matrices, Kt~ and

Kop, for the out-of-plane plate bending stiffness can be
derived explicitly.

Method of solution
The stiffness matrices for the flange and the web
elements can be assembled into a super element to model

Yc

~{O~Bel (
Ww =

(N3)

~)

) [Wre} ((38)

L IO. e )
in which

MyT2,0y ~

IWBel = (Wsl

-OyB~ ws2 -Oym) r

{wre} = (wn

-0yn

wr2 -Oyr2)r

OOxal 0 ~

[0xsel= 0xa~ 0x
(
[ O~re l =

a0xr2~ r
Oxn 00xrl
ax 0x72 ax /

(N3) = ((3 - 2 ( i ) ~
- ~l ~2h~)

126

ax

~2hw

(39a)
(39b)
(39c)

~c..1~Fx2,U2

(39d)
M=a2,exs2

(3 - 2~2)~

Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 2

~ ~ ~ ~ ~-~"~T

(40)

Figure 5 Superelement

~-

Centroidal Axis

of Super E l e m e n ~

Stability of thin-walled members: C. K. Chin et al.

the behaviour of a general thin-walled member having a
flexible web through appropriate transformations. The
generalized nodal displacements in the local principal
axes, Ir:l (equation (19)) are first transformed to corresponding displacements, {~:l, in the axes parallel to
the local axes of the super element (see Figure 5), i.e.

{ rf] = [ TR] { ?:}

(45)

The flange element generalized nodal displacements,

If:l, can also be expressed in terms of the super element generalized nodal displacements, {r~}, using the
following transformation

I~:1 = [~] {r,I

(46)

in which {r,} is given by

[rs} =(ul vl O:

axial displacement when joining the flange to the web

element22. If the section contains only one flange, then
one of the flange stiffnesses is ignored.
The global stiffness matrix for the structure may be
obtained by a standard assembly procedure in the finite
element method as follows

[KL + Ko]gloOat= ~

(51)
in which n is the number of elements, [KL + Ka] is the
super element stiffness matrix, and [ C] is the transformation matrix relating the local coordinates of the super
element to the global coordinates of the structure.
The bifurcation load can be obtained by solving the
following eigenvalue equation

OyBIOOxBIox

wnl Oxnl

[C] T[KL + Ko]super[C]

I KL + XcrKo I~tob,t = 0

(52)

WTI OxTI OyTl OOxT1 U2 122 OZ2

Ox

Several methods for solving the above equation are

available (e.g. Reference 23). In the present work the
bisection method is used to obtain the critical load factor

w~ 0~ Oyn2 O0~ wr2 O~r2 Oyn

~cr

Ox

OOxn
)r
OX U3

(47)

The web membrane stiffness is derived relative to the

centroidal axes of the web and must be transformed to
the centroidal axes of the super element, via

{r,,} = [T,,] {rsl

(48)

in which [r~} is given by equation (33). The transformation matrices [TR], [T:] and [T~] are given in the
Appendix.
Assembling the flange and web stiffness matrices
accordingly and employing static condensation to condense out the mid-length nodal degree of freedom, u3, a
22 22 super element stiffness matrix combining the
flange and the web elements can be obtained

1F122 i = [KL + gG]superlr}22 x

(49)

in which

[r] =(ul vl Ozl wnl O,B, eyBi OOxBlox

WTI OxTI Oyrl

O0~rl
OX

WB2 OxB2 OyB2

OX

O0~r2\ r

Ox/

U2 V2 Oz2
WT2 0x72 OyT2

(50)

A mid-length node is added to the flange element and

the web membrane element to avoid incompatibility of

Numerical examples
Based on the described formulation, a number of studies
are presented to demonstrate the efficiency, versatility and accuracy of the proposed finite element
method. Most of the numerical examples chosen have
been investigated previously using different techniques.
In general, it is found that 5 to 10 elements are needed
for convergence, depending on the type of problem.

Doubly symmetric I-beams and beam-columns under

uniform moment
Hancock et al. 15 studied the effect of web distortion on
simply supported doubly symmetric 1-beams under combined axial load and uniform moment using an approximate energy approach. The proposed finite element
method has been applied to the same problem, using 5
elements. The derived buckling interaction curves for
axial load and moment are compared with those given by
Hancock et al. ~5, and with the classical rigid web solution in Figure 6. It is seen that the proposed finite element method gives a slightly higher buckling load when
the axial compressive force is small.
Recently, van Erp 24 used the finite strip method to
study web distortional buckling of plate girders. He
compared the finite strip solutions with the Hancock et
al. ~Senergy solutions and concluded that the Hancock
et al. solutions are slightly more conservative for stocky
beams (i.e. beams with high web depth to length ratio).
For the purpose of this paper, the same problem of a
simply supported doubly symmetric plate girder 1-beam
under uniform moment is analysed by the proposed
finite element method. The beam dimensions (beam A)
are given in Table 1. The present authors' results using
6 elements are compared with those of van Erp, and the
Hancock et al. solutions in Table 2. The finite element

Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 2

127

Stability of thin-walled members: C, K. Chin et al.

1.0

demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed finite element

method, one of the examples analysed by Bradford and
Waters 25 is selected. The present authors' results using
5 elements are compared with those of Bradford and
Waters in Figure 7. The present finite element solutions
are in excellent agreement with those derived by Bradford and Waters.

0.8
-~Tf

a.o

\~\\\

tw

0.6

"k"k, \ \

Beams with tension flange restraints

\
\\

n10
0

Me

0.4

Mc
\

<

0.2

\
\

B f / h = 0.4
Tf/tw = 8
L/h = 30

0.2

0.4

0.6

\\\\\\1

0.8

1.0

Buckling Moment Ratio, Mc/M o

Comparison of results with Hancock et al? 5 for simply
supported doubly symmetric I-section beam-columns under
uniform moment. (
) This paper, (5 elements); (-- --), Hancock et a/.15; (...... ) rigid web
Figure 6

The stability of doubly symmetric I-beams with tension

flange restraints (see Figure 2c) was studied by
Williams and Jemah 8. They calculated the buckling
stress for four beams (beams X1 to X4, see Table 1)
using the VIPASA computer program 7~. Goltermann
and Svensson 9 used an approximate analytical method
of solving the differential equilibrium equation to obtain
solutions and found good agreement with those reported
by Williams and Jemah 8. The proposed finite element
method has been applied to these four beams. In the
analysis, all the degrees-of-freedoms of the nodes at the
tension flange were restrained. The present authors'
results, using 8 elements are compared in Table 3. In
general, the proposed finite element solutions are in
reasonable agreement with those obtained by Williams
and Jemah 8 and by Goltermann and Svensson 9, except
for the beams with thicker flanges. This is because the
proposed finite element method assumes that the junction line between the tension flange and the web is
restrained, while in References 8 and 9, the restraint was
assumed to be at the middle fibre of the tension flange.
Moreover, accurate modelling of the web has been made

solutions are in excellent agreement with those obtained

by v a n Erp 24.

Monosymmetric 1-beams under uniform moment

Bradford and Waters :5 presented an approximate
energy method to study the web distortional buckling of
simply supported monosymmetric I-beams under
uniform moment. The buckling solution was reduced to
solving the eigenvalue of a 4 4 matrix. In order to
Table 1 Dimensions (mm) of beams in examples (E

= 210

GPa,

= 0.3)

-2
10

\\

UJ
u_o

L..

Mc

\\

l
\\

Mc

BTXTT " ~

Local --_
\
Buckling ~ \

15 3

ii
tw--~-

1
-]
Ih

09
Flange
width,

Flange
thickness,

Web
depth,

Web
thickness,

Beam

Bf

Tf

hw

A
X1
X2
X3
X4

100.0
300.0
268.0
153.5
133.4

10.0
35.0
25.4
18.9
7.8

440.0
900.0
718.8
427.3
187.6

2.0
18.5
15.6
10.7
5.8

t-

---//

~\'\\
~ ,
~ (

\
\
~\\

(0
m
tO
.m
o9
c"

~
1(~4 _

BBTB~ J

BT/h = 0.063
TT/tw = 2.5
BT/BB =0.5
TT/TB = 1.0
'~\\ h/tw= 200 -

E_
o

Table 2 Buckling m o m e n t s
uniform bending

(kN-m) for a plate girder under

Length

Rigid

Hancock

van Erp 24

This paper

3
5
10
20

97.8
41.5
15.8
7.0

76.4
37.4
15.0
7.0

88.7
37.8
15.0
7.0

89.5
37.8
15.0
7.0

128

Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 2

1(~0.5

1
10
Dimensionless Length, L/h

100

Figure 7 Comparison of results with Bradford and Waters 25 for

simply supported monosymmetric
I-beams under uniform
moment. ( a, ) This paper (5 elements), ( - - - ), rigid web; (
)
energy method Bradford and Waters 25

Stability of thin-walled members: C. K. Chin et al.

Table 3

Elastic critical stress (MPa) in middle fibre of compres-

sion flange

Beam

Length
(mm)

Williams
and Jemah 8

Goltermann
and Svensson 9

X1
X1
X1

7399
12333
30830

455
489
454

467
506
465

477
507
477

X2
X2
X2

6010
10016
25040

525
567
524

534
581
532

548
586
548

X3
X3
X3

3322
5537
13842

591
635
591

606
658
604

623
660
623

X4
X4
X4

2042
3404
8510

1128
1225
1124

1137
1242
1133

1142
1225
1140

This paper

Two-span continuous 1-beams under concentrated

loads

for the finite element method whereas Williams and

Jemah 8 and Ooltermann and Svensson 9 -assumed the
web height to be between the flanges' centroids.

Hollow flanges I-beams under moment gradient

The proposed finite element method has been used to
analyse the distortional buckling of a simply supported
doubly symmetric hollow (circular) flanged I-beam (see
Figure 8) subject to unequal end moments, M and/3M.
In this example the web is relatively flexible (2 mm
thick) to highlight the distortional effect. Buckling solu-

400
350
A

E
I
z

500

400

150

91

E =9400ksi -

_1
_4

- 2

AA

oj300

2-~_~

25

,I
0
--1

\\

\
~=+1 . \

,TTT

92

L, 60" _Li 6o"

A
O0
.Q

r =-I

j..

tw G = 3 8 7 0 k s i

\\
x

1.242"~

L~ads at
Top Flange

/k

\
p=o\
.
\

200

13=+1 \
\
\
\

c~
t--

The elastic flexural-torsional buckling of continuous

elastic symmetric I-beams had been investigated
theoretically and experimentally by Trahair 27. The
significance of buckling interaction between adjacent
beam spans has ben reported. In the study the effect of
web distortion was not considered. The proposed finite
element method can be applied to this problem to incorporate the effect of web distortion. Methods such as the
finite strip method 13 and the approximate energy
method 25 cannot easily be applied.
A two-span continuous aluminium I-beam subject to
mid-span concentrated loads P1 and P2 acting at the top
flange level is shown in Figure 9. This beam was tested
by Trahair 27. To study the web distortional effect, the
thickness of the web was reduced arbitrarily by 50%
(0.5tw) and 80% (0.2tw) respectively. The authors'
finite element solutions, using 8 elements, are compared
with Trahair's test results 27 in Figure 9. Also shown
are the buckling curves obtained ignoring the effect of
web distortion, using Chan and Kitipornchai's beamcolumn finite element program 5. It is seen that the
buckling interaction curve derived for the beam with the

300

o 250
a)
E

tions for flexible and rigid web cases are compared in

Figure 8 for end moment ratios, ~ = - 1 (uniform
moment), 0 (one end moment) and + 1 (double curvature). In general, 5 elements are sufficient for uniform
moment, but for the case of high moment gradient, 10
elements are needed. It is seen that the effect of web
distortion is very significant for this beam.

20O

(mm)

100
100
50
I

0
Figure 8

4
6
8
Beam Length, L (m)

10

12

Influence of web distortion on buckling of simply supported hollow flanged beams under moment gradient. (
),
Flexible web; ( - - - ) , rigid web ( 5 - 1 0 elements used)

i
100

I
2O0

300

400

Load, P1 (Ibs)
Figure 9

Influence of web distortion on .buckling of two-span

continuous I-beams. ( zx ), Trahair's tests27; (
), this. paper (8
elements); ( - - - ) , rigid web s

Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 2

129

Stability of thin-walled members: C. K. Chin et al.

1.4

1.2

Lateral
Buckling

~o 1.0
6

Coupled

tr 0.8

10~_~-h=400

\web&

Flange

element. The flanges and the web stiffnesses are

assembled into a super element with 22 d.o.f, capable of
predicting the lateral, web distortional and coupled web
and flange local buckling behaviour of thin-walled
members. Several numerical examples have been
presented to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of
the method. In all cases, the proposed finite element
technique predicts results which are in close agreement
with independent published solutions. The method is
versatile and can be applied to general thin-wall
members of the prescribed shape, subject to any loading,
restraint and boundary conditions.

E
o 0.6
Acknowledgments
e-

.~ 0.4

Me

03

(}

0.2

Mc
L = 32001

0.2
0.4
Flange Width to

0.6

0.8

Web Depth

1.0
1.2
Ratio, B,/h

Figure 10 Influence of coupled web and flange local buckling on

simply-supported doubly symmetric I-beams under uniform
moment. (
), Robert and Jhita2e; ( 0 ), Azizian2S; ( z~ ) this
paper (8 elements)

The work in this paper forms part of the project

'Stability of beams and beam-columns' supported by the
Australian Research Council (ARC) under Project grant
no. 834 and by Tube Technology Pty Ltd (Palmer Tube
Group).
The authors wish to thank Dr S.L. Chan of the
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, Hong
Kong Polytechnic and Dr C.M, Wang, Department of
Civil Engineering, National University of Singapore for
some useful suggestions and Mr Warren H. Traves,
Gutteridge Haskins and Davey Pty Ltd for proof-reading
the manuscript.

References
original web thickness case agrees very well with test
results and with the rigid web solution. The influence of
web distortion, however, becomes more significant as
the web thickness is reduced. In such cases, ignoring the
effect Of the web distortion would result in an
overestimation of the buckling capacity of the beam.

Coupled web and flange local buckling of 1-beams

Roberts and Jhita 2s used an energy method while
Azizian 29 used the finite element method to study the
coupled web and flange local buckling of a relatively
stocky doubly symmetric I-beam (see Figure 10) under
uniform moment. The variation of the buckling moment
ratio Mc/l~lc with respect to the ratio B//h is shown in
Figure 10. The value for ~rc represents the buckling
moment of a similar beam with cross-sectional distortion
suppressed. It is seen that for low By/h ratios, the beam
buckles laterally without web distortion. As the flange
width to web depth ratio increases, however, the
buckled mode changes from lateral to coupled web and
flange local buckling. The present finite element solutions using 8 dements are in excellent agreement with
those derived by Roberts and Jhita 2s and Azizian 29.

Conclusions
A finite element technique for predicting the elastic web
distortional and coupled web and flange local buckling
of general thin-walled members comprising arbitrary
flange shape and flexible web has been presented. The
flange, which is assumed to be rigid in its own plane, is
modelled as a general thin-walled beam-column element, while the web part is modelled as a thin plate

1:30

Eng. Struct.

1992,

Vol. 14, No 2

1 Pekoz, T.B. and Winter, G. Torsional-flexura| buckling of thinwalled sections under eccentric load, J. Struct. Div., ASCE 1969,
95(ST5), 941-961
2 Barsoum, R.S. and Gallagher, R.H. Finite element analysis of
torsional and torsional-flexural stability problems, Int. J. Num.
Methods Eng. 1970, 2, 335-352
3 Yang, Y.B. and McGuire, W. Stiffness matrix for geometric
nonlinear analysis, J. Struct. Eng. ASCE 1986, 112(4), 853-877.
4 Kitipornchai, S. and Chan, S.L. Nonlinear finite element analysis of
angle and tee beam-columns, J. Struct. Eng., ASCE 1987, 113(4),
721-739
5 Chan, S.L. and Kitipornchai, S. Geometric nonlinear analysis of
asymmetric thin-walled beam-columns, Eng. Struct. 1987, 9,
243 - 2 5 4
6 AI-Bermani, F.G.A. and Kitipornchai, S. Nonlinear analysis of thinwalled structures using least element/member, J. Struct. Eng.,
ASCE 1990, 116(1), 215-234
7 Bradford, M.A. and Trahair. N.S. Lateral stability on beams of seats,
J. Struct. Eng., ASCE 1983, 109(ST9), 2212-2215
8 Williams, F.W. and Jemah, A.K. Buckling curves for beams, J.
Const. Steel Res. 1987, 7(2), 133-147
9 Goltermann, P. and Svensson, S.E. Lateral distortional buckling:
predicting elastic critical stress, J. Struct. Eng., ASCE 1988,
114(7), 1606-1625
10 Johnson, C.P. and Will, K.M. Beam buckling by finite element procedure, J. Struct. Div. Div., ASCE 1974, 100(ST3), 669-685
11 Akay, H.U., Johnson, C.P. and Will, K.M. Lateral and local buckling of beams of frames, J. Struct. Div., ASCE 1977, 103(ST9),
1821 - 1832
12 Plank, R.J. and Wittrick, W.H. Buckling under combined loading of
thin flat-walled structures by a complex finite strip method, Int. J.
Num. Methods Eng. 1974, 8, 323-339
13 Cheung, Y.K. Finite strip method in structural analysis Pergamon
Press, New York, 1976
14 Hancock, G.J. Local, ,distortional and lateral buckling of I-beams, J.
Strcut. Div. , ASCE 1978, 10,I(STll), 1787-1798
15 Hancock, G.J., Bradford, M.A. and Trahair, N.S. Web distortion
and flexural-torsional buckling, J. Struct. Div. ASCE 1980,
106(ST7), 1557-1571
16 Bradford, M.A. and Trahair, N.S. Distortional buckling of I-beams
J. Struct. Div., ASCE 1981, 107(ST2), 355-370

Stability of thin-walled members: C. K. Chin et al.

17 Bradford, M.A. and Trahair, N.S. Distortional buckling of thin-web
beam-columns Eng. Struct. 1982, 4, 2 - 1 0
18 Vlasov, V.Z. Thin-walled elastic beams (2nd edn), National Science
Foundations, Washington D.C., 1961
19 Washizu, K. Variational methods in elasticity and plasticity (2rid edn)
Pergamon Press, New York, 1975
20 Chu, T.C. and Schnobrich, W.C. Finite element analysis of translational shells, Comp. Struct. 1972, 2, 197-222
21 Cook, R.D. Concepts and applications of finite element analysis,
(2nd edn), John Wiley, New York, 1981
22 Miller, R.E. Reduc2ion of the error in eccentric beam modelling Int.
J. Num. Methods Eng. 1980, 15, 575-582
23 Bathe, K.J. and Wilson, E.L. Numerical methods in finite element
analysis, Prentice-Hall, New York, 1976
24 van Erp, G.M. Advanced buckling analysis of beams with arbitrary

25
26
27
28
29

cross-sections, Ph.D. Thesis, 1989, University of Eindhoven, The

Netherlands
Bradford, M.A. and Waters, S.W. Distortional instability of
fabricated monosymmetrie I-beams, Comp. Struct. 1988, 29(4),
715-724
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anisotropic or isotropic plate assemblies under combined loadings,
Int. J. Mech. Sci. 1974, 16, 209-239
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ASCE 1969, 95(ST6), 1295-1312
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of 1-beams, Thin-Walled Struct. 1983, 1,289-308
Azizian, Z.G. Instability of beams and plate girders, Report, Dept.
Civ. and Struct. Eng., Univ. College, Cardiff, 1982

Appendix

Transformation matrices [ T R] , [ Tf] and [Tm ]

-S

-S-

(AI)

-S

-S

in which C = cos , S = sin ~ and ~ = angular displacement between the local principal axes of the flange element and the local axes of the super element.
For the top flange element:
"1

-37~r, 0 0 0 0

0 3Yc7 Y~r 0 0 0 0
2L
4
0 0
0
0000

3QT 0
2L
0
0

Z.cr

--QT 0
4
0
0

0 0 0 0

0 -3Ycr YeT 0 0 0 0
2L'
4
--YcT 0 0 0 0

0 O"

-3~'~r 0 -Z~r 0 1
2L
4

ZcT

0 0

0000

00

00

0000

--Z,T

0000

0000

0000

0 o 0 o

0000

0000

O0

0000

~T

0000

O0

0000

0000

O0

0000

0000

Y~T

00

0000

0000

O0

0000

0000

O0

0000

0000

O0

0000

0000

O0

0000

0000

10

--Zsr 0

0 0I

(A2)
Eng. Struct. 1 9 9 2 , Vol. 14, No 2

131

Stability of thin-walled members: C. K. Chin et al.

in which 2for, z~r = coordinates of the centroid of the top
flange element relative to that of the super element, and
Y,r, Z,r = coordinates of the shear centre of the top
flange element relative to the local axes at the junction
line between the top flange and the web of the super element.
For the bottom flange element
1

-37cB

0 32cB YcB
2L
4
0 0
0

[~1 =

3~B
2L
0

z,-8 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 -zJ
4
0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 -3YcB 2~B
2L
4
0 0 0 0 0 1
0 -~8

0
2L

000000'

000001
4

zT
c,B 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 -z~80

000000

000000

000000

000000

000000

0 --ZsB 0

000000

000000

000000

y~B 0

000000

000000

000000

000000

000000

y,~

000000

000000

000000

000000

000000

I00000

000000

000000

000000

000000

100000

(A3)
in which ~P~B, ~B = coordinates of the centroid of the
bottom flange element relative to that of the super element, and YsB, zsB = coordinates of the shear centre of
the bottom flange element relative to the local axes at the
junction line between the bottom flange and the web of
the super element.

[T~] =

"1

3Yc~
2L

-Yc.,

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Y~ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 O"

33~cw -3~w
0
2L
4

00000001

00

0000001

-Y~w

00000000

00

0000000

00000000

00

0000000

00000000

00

0000000

00000000

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

00000000

(A4)
in which ~9~w= coordinate of the mid-height node of the
web relative to the centroidal axes of the super element.

132

Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 2