ELSEVI ER

Thin-Walled Structures Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 3- 12, 1997

Copyr i ght ~'~ 1996 Elsevier Science Lt d
Printed in Gr eat Britain. All ri ght s reserved
0263-8231/97 $15.00
P I I : S 0 2 6 3 - 8 2 3 I ( 9 6 ) 0 0 0 2 0 - I
Desi gn for Di st ort i onal Buckl i ng o f Fl exural Members
G. J. Hancock
Centre for Advanced Structural Engineering, School of Civil and Mining Engineering,
University of Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT
For thin-walled flexural members composed of high-strength steel and/or
slender elements in the section, a mode of buckling at half-wavelengths
intermediate between local buckling and flexural-torsional or flexural
buckling can occur. The mode is most common f or edge-stiffened sections
such as C- and Z-purlins, and involves rotation of the flange and lip about
the .[lange-web junction. The mode is commonly called distortional buck-
ling. This paper presents a design method f or distortional buekling of JTex-
ural members recently drafted .for use in the Australian~New Zealand
Standard f or Cold-formed Steel Structures. Methods f or computing the
elastic buckling stress, and design curves f or determining the distortional
buckling strength are presented. Comparisons of different methods f or
computing the elastic distortional buckling stress are made with accurate
solutions based on the finite strip method of structural analysis. Copyright
1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.
1 I NTR ODUC TI ON
Di s t or t i onal buckl i ng of compr es s i on member s such as C-sect i ons usual l y
i nvol ves r ot at i on of each fl ange and lip a bout t he f l ange- web j unc t i on in
oppos i t e di r ect i ons as s hown in Fig. l(a). The web under goes flexure at t he
same hal f- wavel engt h as t he fl ange buckl e, and t he whol e sect i on may
t r ansl at e in a di r ect i on nor ma l t o t he web al so at t he same hal f- wavel engt h
as t he fl ange and web buckl i ng def or mat i ons . The web buckl e i nvol ves
single cur vat ur e t r ansver se bendi ng o f t he web. Di st or t i onal buckl i ng of
compr es s i on me mbe r s has been i nvest i gat ed in det ai l in Ha nc oc k I mai nl y
4 G. J . Hancock
Translation
' ~ Rotation
Translation
' ~ Rotation
Compression
flange
~w
(a) Compression (b) Flexure
Fig. 1. Di st ort i onal buckl i ng modes
for sect i ons used in steel st or age racks, Lau & Ha nc oc k 2 4 for a r ange of
di ffer ent C- and r ack sect i ons, and by Kwon & Ha nc oc k 5"6 for hi gh-
st r engt h steel channel sect i ons wi t h i nt er medi at e stiffeners.
Di s t or t i onal buckl i ng of flexural member s such as C- and Z-sect i ons
usual l y i nvol ves r ot at i on of onl y t he compr es s i on fl ange and lip a bout t he
f l ange- web j unc t i on as s hown in Fig. l(b). The web under goes flexure at
t he same hal f- wavel engt h as t he fl ange buckl e, and t he compr es s i on fl ange
may t r ansl at e in a di r ect i on nor mal to t he web, also at t he same half-
wavel engt h as t he fl ange and web buckl i ng def or mat i ons . The web buckl e
i nvol ves doubl e cur vat ur e t ransverse bendi ng of t he web. The pur pos e of
this paper is t o decri be t he basis of t he desi gn me t hod pr opos ed for
di st or t i onal buckl i ng of flexural member s in t he dr aft Aus t r al i an/ New
Zeal and St a nda r d for Col d- f or med Steel St ruct ures. 7
2 ELASTI C DI S TORTI ONAL BUCKL I NG STRESS
2.1 Formulation
A paper by Lau & Ha nc oc k 8 pr ovi des di st or t i onal buckl i ng f or mul as for
channel col umns based on a si mpl e fl ange buckl i ng model where t he
fl ange is t r eat ed as a t hi n- wal l ed compr es s i on member , as shown in Fig. 2
under goi ng f l exur al - t or si onal buckl i ng. The r ot at i onal spr i ng stiffness k s
represent s t he flexural r est r ai nt pr ovi ded by t he web whi ch is in pur e
compr essi on, and t he t r ansl at i onal spr i ng stiffness kx represent s t he resis-
t ance t o t r ansl at i onal move me nt of t he sect i on in t he buckl i ng mode. As a
resul t of t he compr essi ve stress in t he web, t he model i ncl uded a r educt i on
Buckling o['Jlexural members
, b f , S h e a r c e n t r e of
L^ k x ^ ~ " ~ k ~ It =[ '/~--~ x 4
t '
Hj~ngStio$ b f2da~ige ~Ty
Fig. 2. Flange elastically restrained along flange-web junction
in t he flexural restraint provi ded by t he web. The model as derived was
not limited to simple fl ange-l i p combi nat i ons as shown in Fig. 2, but may
involve compl ex lips with sloping stiffeners and/ or ret urn lips. In the Lau
and Hancock model , it was assumed t hat the value of the t ransl at i onal
spring stiffness kx was zero so t hat t he flange was free to translate in the x-
di rect i on in the buckl i ng mode, The equat i on for the rot at i onal spring
stifness k 4, is given in Lau & Hancock s as:
,,, { ,ll,od 1
ke , =5. e 6( bw+0. 062) 1 " Et 2 kb, ~_~2 / (1)
where E is the modul us of elasticity and t is the thickness. In eqn (1), 2 is
the half-wavelength of the di st ort i onal buckle given by:
0. 25
4
The symbol !Yr is defi ned in Appendi x A and the term f'od is the compres-
sive stress in t he web at di st ort i onal buckling, comput ed assuming ko is
zero. The comput at i on process is iterative due to the i ncorporat i on of,/%d
in eqn (1).
An alternative formul at i on for t he elastic buckl i ng stress of the thin-
walled compressi on member in Fig. 2 has been provi ded by Sharp 9 as
given by eqn (3):
O' e r z
where Af, !,r, L.r, Jr, -~, and P are defi ned in Appendi x A and v is Poisson' s
ratio. Sharp assumed t hat t he t ransl at i onal spring stiffness k.,. was infinite
6 G.J. Hancock
so t hat t he f l ange- web j unc t i on became a fixed poi nt of r ot at i on. Shar p
al so pr ovi ded a f or mul a for t he r ot at i onal spr i ng stiffness k~ resul t i ng
f r om t he web in t r ansver se flexure as:
2 Et 3
kc~ = 5.46 (bw + ~ bf) (4)
The Shar p f or mul a does not al l ow for a r educt i on in stiffness due t o
compr es s i on in t he web.
The mai n object i ve of t hi s paper is t o modi f y t he Lau and Ha nc oc k
f or mul ae for sect i ons in compr es s i on t o al l ow t hem to appl y t o di st or-
t i onal buckl i ng in flexure, as s hown in Fig. l(b). I f t he web of t he C-
sect i on in compr es s i on in Fig. l (a) is t r eat ed as a si mpl y s uppor t e d beam
in flexure, as s hown in Fig. 3(a), t hen t he r ot at i onal stiffness at t he end
woul d be 2 EI /L as a resul t of t he equal and oppos i t e end moment s . I f t he
web of t he C-sect i on in flexure in Fig. l (b) is t r eat ed as a beam simly
s uppor t e d at one end and bui l t in at t he ot her , as s hown in Fig. 3(b), t hen
t he r ot at i onal stiffness at t he end woul d be 4EI /L. Hence it can be
concl uded t hat t he change in end- r est r ai nt f r om Fig. l (a) t o Fig. l (b) will
appr oxi mat el y doubl e t he t or si onal r est r ai nt stiffness k~. Fur t her , t he web
el ement is under a stress gr adi ent caused by flexure of t he member . The
pl at e buckl i ng coeffi ci ent , k, of a web el ement under pur e i n-pl ane bend-
i ng varies as a f unct i on of t he aspect rat i o. Ti mos he nko & Ger e ~ listed
numer i cal val ues of k for an el ement under pur e bendi ng for var i ous
aspect rat i os (Tabl es 9-6). The t er m in squar e br acket s in eqn ( l ) can be
modi f i ed to account for t he di ffer ent k val ues for t he web in bendi ng.
M
')M
(a) Symmetric Bending
M 4EI
0 - L
J
0
, , 7
)
M
(b) Asymmetric Restrained
Bending
Fig. 3. Beam flexure.
Buckling o f f l exural members 7
Consequent l y eqns (1) and (2) h ave been revised to eqns ( A12) and (A1 I) ,
respectively, in Appendi x A. Th e f ormul at i on is called th e Lau and
Hancock flexural met h od in th is paper and is fully described in Appendi x
A.
2.2 Numerical comparison
Numeri cal cal cul ati ons h ave been performed for a variety of C- secti on
sizes in pure bendi ng about th e major principal axis to compare th e
values of elastic di storti onal buckl i ng stress ach ieved usi ng th e different
formul ati ons. Th e values are given in Tabl e 1 for web depth s, bw, from
100 to 200 mm; flange width s, bf, from 50 to 75 mm; lip length s, di, from
10 to 20 mm; and th icknesses, t, o f 1.5 and 2. 0 mm. Th e range covers a
practical span o f sections wh ere di storti onal buckl i ng may be a problem.
Th e di storti onal buckl i ng stress h as been comput ed by five different
meth ods. Col umn 5 gives th e values determi ned usi ng th e finite strip
buckl i ng analysis ( BFI NS T) component of th e comput er program
T A B L E 1
El as t i c Di s t o r t i o na l Buc kl i ng S t res s es
Dimensions ( mm ) Buckling stress ( MPa)
b t b.. bl t Finite Lau and Sharp Sharp Finite strip
strip - - no Hancock [lesural lateral
lateral .17exural method restraint
restraint method
( 1) ( 2 J ( 3 ) ( 4) ( 5 ) ( 6) ( 7) ( 8) ( 9)
75 200 20 1.5 291 276 248 336 326
75 200 15 1.5 231 225 193 261 251
75 200 10 1.5 162 162 135 179 173
50 200 20 1.5 438 417 451 575 567
50 200 15 1.5 369 365 367 466 447
50 200 10 1.5 282 276 269 321 314
75 100 20 1.5 405 374 314 458 407
75 100 15 1.5 304 308 243 357 317
75 100 10 1.5 210 223 167 247 216
75 200 20 2. 0 401 383 340 462 458
75 200 15 2. 0 322 315 269 362 356
75 200 10 2. 0 233 233 193 255 254
Me a n ~ .... 0. 982 0. 865 1.165 1.107
Co e f f i c i e nt o f v ar i at i on t 0. 036 0. 082 0. 063 0.081
t Th e me a n and c oe f f i c i e nt o f v a r i a t i o n v al ue s are bas e d on rat i o t o f i ni t e st ri p wi t h no
l at eral rest rai nt .
8 G. J . Hancock
THI N- WALL. 11 These val ues can be r egar ded as accur at e and were
c o mp ut e d as s umi ng uni f or m stress in t he compr es s i on and t ensi on flan-
ges, stress gr adi ent in t he web, and no lateral r est r ai nt to t he section.
Co l umn 6 gives t he val ues det er mi ned usi ng t he Lau and Ha nc oc k flex-
ural me t hod wi t h eqns (A12) and ( Al l ) for k, and 2, respectively.
Co l umn 7 gives t he val ues usi ng t he Shar p f or mul a (eqn 3) wi t h eqn (4)
for k as pr opos e d by Shar p for sect i ons in pur e compr essi on. Col umn 8
gives t he val ues usi ng t he Shar p f or mul a (eqn 3) wi t h eqn (A12) for k+.
Thi s last me t h o d is cal l ed t he Shar p fl exural me t hod in this paper and
r epr esent s t he case where t he i ncreased web r est r ai nt for t he web in
doubl e cur vat ur e, as s hown in Fig. 3(b), is i ncor por at ed in t he Shar p
for mul a. Co l umn 9 gives t he val ues det er mi ned usi ng t he finite strip
buckl i ng anal ysi s ( BFI NST) c o mp o n e n t o f t he c omput e r pr ogr a m
THI N- WALL as s umi ng lateral r est r ai nt to t he compr es s i on fl ange whi ch
st ops t he t r ansl at i on s hown in Fig. l(b).
The Lau and Ha nc oc k flexural me t hod val ues are on average 1.8%
l ower t han t he finite st ri p values, t he Shar p val ues are on average 13.5%
l ower t han t he finite st ri p values, and t he Shar p flexural me t hod val ues are
16.5% hi gher t han t he finite strip values. The effect of t he lateral rest rai nt
is to i ncrease t he finite st ri p val ues by an average of 10.4%. The Shar p
flexural me t hod val ues are 5. 0% hi gher on aver age t han t he finite st ri p
val ues i ncl udi ng lateral rest rai nt .
3 S TRE NGTH DESI GN
3.1 Formulation
St r engt h desi gn curves were der i ved f r om test dat a in Kwon & Hancock 6
and s ummar i s ed in Hancock et al. 12 They al l ow for t he i nt er act i on of
buckl i ng and yielding, as well as pos t - buckl i ng st r engt h in t he di st or t i onal
mode. The equat i ons for t he inelastic critical mo me n t (Me) are given by
e qn s (A2) and (A3) in Appendi x A. The inelastic critical mo me n t is a
f unct i on of yield mo me n t (My = Z f f y ) and t he elastic critical mo me n t for
di st or t i onal buckl i ng (Mod ---- Zffod). Equat i ons (A2-1) and (A3-1) are as
ori gi nal l y pr opos e d in t he dr aft Aus t r al i a/ New Zeal and St andar d, 7 wi t h a
recent pr opos al 13 given by eqns (A2-2) and (A3-2). I nt er act i on of local
and di st or t i onal buckl i ng is i gnor ed except when local buckl i ng occurs
mai nl y in t he web whi ch is rest rai ned by t he flange.
When local buckl i ng occur s mai nl y in t he web, t he desi gn me t hod is
based upon t he uni fi ed a ppr oa c h (Pek6zl4), whi ch al l ows local buckl i ng of
t he fl ange or web to be account ed for si mul t aneousl y wi t h di st or t i onal
Buckling of Jlexural members 9
buckl i ng. The nomi na l me mbe r mo me n t capaci t y (Mb) is der i ved f r om t he
inelastic critical mo me n t (Mc) by mul t i pl yi ng by t he rat i o of t he elastic
sect i on modul us o f t he effective sect i on (Ze) t o t he elastic sect i on modul us
of t he full sect i on (Zf), as set out by eqn (A1). The elastic sect i on modul us
of t he effective sect i on is cal cul aed at a stress Mc/ Z f in t he ext r eme
compr es s i on fibre, wi t h t he local buckl i ng coeffi ci ent k = 4.0 in t he effec-
tive wi dt h equat i on for local buckl i ng.
4 CONCLUS I ONS
A desi gn me t hod for c omput i ng t he di st or t i onal buckl i ng st r engt h of t he
compr es s i on fl ange o f C- and Z- sect i ons under bendi ng a bout an axis
per pendi cul ar t o t he web has been pr esent ed. The Lau and Ha nc oc k flex-
ural me t hod gives t he best est i mat e of t he elastic di st or t i onal buckl i ng
stress for sect i ons in bendi ng, i rrespect i ve of whet her t he compr es s i on
fl ange is l at eral l y rest rai ned. The ori gi nal Shar p f or mul a for sect i ons in
compr es s i on and t he Shar p fl exural me t hod f or mul a for sect i ons in bend-
i ng have been s hown t o be less accur at e for pr edi ct i ng t he elastic di st or-
t i onal buckl i ng stress for sect i ons in bendi ng. Two di fferent st r engt h
desi gn curves have been pr opos ed wi t h t he final sel ect i on dependi ng upon
a cal i br at i on agai nst test dat a.
AC KNOWL E DGE ME NTS
The c omme nt s o f Dr Ki m Ras mus s en and Mr Col i n Roger s of t he
Uni versi t y of Sydney are appr eci at ed.
RE FE RE NCE S
1. Hancock, G.J., Distortional buckling of steel storage rack columns. J. Struct.
Engng ASCE, 111(12) (1985) 2770-83.
2. Lau, S.C.W. & Hancock, G.J., Distortional buckling tests of cold-formed
channel sections. 9th I nt. Specialo' Conf. Cold-/brmed Steel Structures, St
Louis, MO, 1988, pp.45-73.
3. Lau, S.C.W. & Hancock, G.J., Strength tests and design methods for cold-
formed channel columns undergoing distortional buckling. Research Report
No R579, School of Civil and Mining Engineering, University of Sydney,
1988.
4. Lau, S.C.W. & Hancock, G.J., Inelastic buckling of channel columns in the
distortional mode. Thin- Walled Structures, 10 (1990) 59-84.
10 G. J. Hancock
5. Kwon, Y.B. & Hancock, G.J., Design of channels against distortionai
buckling, l l t h I nt. Specialty Conf. Cold-formed Steel Structures, St Louis,
MO, 1992, pp. 323-352.
6. Kwon, Y.B. & Hancock, G.J., Strength tests of cold-formed channel sections
undergoing local and distortional buckling. J. Struct. Engng ASCE 117(2)
(1992) 1786-1803.
7. Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand, Col d-Formed Steel Structures
(Revision of AS 1538-1988), Draft Standard DR 95246, June 1995.
8. Lau, S.C.W. & Hancock, G.J., Distortional buckling formulas for channel
columns. J. Struct. Engng ASCE, 113(5) (1987) 1063-1078.
9. Sharp, M.L., Longitudinal stiffeners for compression members. J. Struct.
Div., 92 (ST5) (1966) 187-211.
10. Timoshenko, S.P. & Gere, J.M., Theory of Elastic Stability 2nd edn.
McGraw-Hill, New York, 1961.
11. Papangelis, J.P. & Hancock, G.J., Comput er analysis of thin-walled struc-
tural members. Computers and Structures, 56 (1995) 157-176.
12. Hancock, G.J., Kwon, Y.B. & Bernard, E.S., Strength design curves for thin-
walled sections undergoing distortional buckling. J. Constr. Steel Res.,
31(2,3) (1994) 169-186.
13. Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand, Comment s on Clauses 3.3.3.2,
3.4.5, 3.4.6 and Paragraph C3 of Appendix C. Committee Document BD/82/
95-16, November 1995.
14. PekSz, T., Development of a unified approach to the design of cold-formed
steel members. Report SG 86-4, AISI, May 1986.
AP P E NDI X A
Distortional buckling strength design equation for flexural members
The nomi na l me mbe r mo me n t capaci t y o f C- and Z- sect i ons subj ect to
di s t or t i onal buckl i ng, Mb wher e di s t or t i onai buckl i ng i nvol ves r ot at i on o f
t he c ompr e s s i on fl ange a nd lip a bout t he f l a nge - we b j unct i on, shall be
cal cul at ed as follows:
Mb = Z M~ ( AI )
e Zf
wher e Zf is t he el ast i c sect i on modul us o f t he full unr e duc e d sect i on for
t he ext r eme compr es s i on fibre.
Ze = Zf whe n k~ as gi ven by eqn ( AI 2) is posi t i ve or zero.
Ze is t he el ast i c sect i on modul us o f t he ef f ect i ve sect i on cal cul at ed
at a stress Mc/ Z f in t he ext r eme compr es s i on fibre, wi t h k = 4.0
in t he effect i ve wi dt h equat i on. Whe n k 4, as gi ven by eqn (A12)
is negat i ve, c omput e k6 wi t h f'od = 0
Buckling of flexural members
Mc is the critical moment cal cul at ed as below:
for Mod > 0.5 My
My
for Mod 40 . 5 My
Mc = My 0.055 My _ 3.6 0.237
al t ernat i vel y:
for Mod > 2.2 My
Mc = My
for Mod ~< 2.2 My
Mc = My ] ~ d ( l - 0 . 2 2 ] f ~ /
V - ' Y V - ' Y /
(A2-1 )
(A3-1 )
(A2-2)
(A3-2)
where My is the moment causi ng initial yield at the extreme compressi on
fibre of the full section
= Z f f y (A4)
Moo is the elastic critical moment for di st ort i onal buckl i ng
~- Zf J'; d (A5)
Jod = ~ f (g' -]- g2) -- [~1 q- ~2) 2 -- 4cql (A6)
k~
~, = ~r/(I,-f b ~ . + 0.039 Jf2d) + --fl,rl E (A7)
2
71 2 2)
0~3 = / 70q( vf -- fill I " : " fbf
(A8)
(A9)
12 G. J. Hancock
0.25
2
2 , t = 4 . 8 0 \ 2t 3 .]
( Al l )
2 E t 3
k4' = 5.46(b,~ + 0.062d)
bw~
l ' l l f' d 12.5624 q_ %_ 2 2
1 E t 2 2.192b 4 13.392db w
(A12)
= ( Al 3 )
where f'od is obt ai ned from eqn (A6) with k s = 0 in eqn (AT)
Ar is the full cross-sectional area of compressi on flange and lip
br is t he compressi on flange wi dt h (see Fig. 2)
bw is t he web dept h (see Fig. 1)
E is t he modul us of elasticity
jy is t he yield stress
!~f, !,.r are moment s of inertia of compressi on flange and lip about the x, y-
axes, respectively, where the x, y-axes are located at cent roi d of flange and
lip with x-axis parallel with flange (see Fig. 2)
!~yf is the product of inertia of compressi on flange and lip about x, y-axes
Jf is t he St Venant t orsi on const ant of compressi on flange and lip
x, y are distances from t he fl ange-web j unct i on to cent roi d of compressi on
flange and lip in t he x, y-directions, respectively (see Fig. 2)