FULL PAPER

International J. of Recent Trends in Engineering and Technology, Vol. 3, No. 5, May 2010

Lateral-Torsional Buckling of Castellated Beams

under End Moments
H. R. Kazemi Nia Korrani1, M. Z. Kabir2, S. Molanaei 3
1

Amirkabir University of Technology, Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Tehran, Iran
Email: Kazeminia.hamidreza@gmail.com
2
Amirkabir University of Technology, Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Tehran, Iran
Email: {Mzkabir@aut.ac.ir, Sabahmolanaei@gmail.com}
Abstract- Lateral-torsional buckling may occur in an
unrestrained beam where its compression flange is free to
displace laterally and rotate. Due to the widespread
application of castellated beams in buildings, this paper
develops a three-dimensional finite-element model using
ANSYS [Users manual, version 10.0] for the lateraltorsional buckling analysis of castellated beams and uses it
to investigate the effects of slenderness on the momentgradient factor of simply supported castellated beams.
AISC proposes moment-gradient factor of castellated beams
the same of plain webbed beams. In this paper, a general
equation is proposed to determine the value of Cb factor.
Therefore, multi criterion equations for evaluating the Cb
factor for each case in terms of the beams modified
slenderness is proposed.

lack of laterally bracing is called lateral-torsional

buckling. Lateral-torsional buckling of beam is associated
with the rotation of section. This rotation is a
combination of pure torsion and warping torsion.
Therefore, compression stress produced in the flange is
the result of three types of stress (stress due to bending
around x-axis, lateral bending and warping) and leads to
decrease in the bearing capacity.
Castellated beams are formed by cutting a standard
steel beam longitudinally along a zigzag, then
reconnecting the two half beams , thus forming a deeper
(and therefore stronger) section of the same weight as
before This is illustrated in Fig 1.

Index Terms Lateral-torsional buckling, Moment-gradient

factor, Critical moment, Castellated beams, Finite element
method.

I. INTRODUCTION
The problem of lateral-torsional buckling of beams not
properly braced against lateral deflection has been the
focus of a significant amount of studies in recent years. In
the design of flexural members, the ratio of width to
thickness of some beams does not meet the compression
requirements. In addition, lateral supports may not be
placed in the appropriate intervals. Most of beams
constructed by thin plates can not be considered as
compact section. Since rolled steel I-section and
castellated beams have been used in this paper, therefore,
compression is not discussed here and only the problem
of beam not braced against lateral deflection have been
investigated [11].
If the beam length between two supports exceeds a given
threshold, compression flange becomes unstable and
tends to buckle laterally prior to reaching maximum
flexural strength. Therefore, the moment of inertia around
the x- axis should be much greater than that of around the
y-axis to reduce flexural stress [3]. Low moment of
inertia around the y-axis in the beams with high distance
between lateral supports can cause a further increase in
the lateral bending in the compression flange and torsion
in the section. Accordingly, if the compression flange is
not properly braced laterally, the possibility of sudden
failure of compression flange will increase. Such failure
resulting from increase in the compression stress in the
flange due to the beam bending and lateral bending due to

Figure 1. Illustration of castellated beams.

AISC considers pure bending as a base in the calculation

of buckling moment. This is because the beam buckling
under pure bending is the most critical condition and can
be simply determined. The determination of buckling
moment of a simply supported beam under pure bending
has been addressed in many references. The relation is as
follows [4], [12]:

( M 0 ) cr =

EC w EI y +

2
L2

EI y GJ .

(1)

Where, (Mo)cr is critical moment in pure bending , L is

un-braced length assumed to equal to free span length, E
is elasticity modulus of materials, Cw is warping constant,
Iy is the weak-axis moment of inertia, G is shear modulus
of materials and J is polar moment of inertia of the
section.
16

2010 ACEE
DOI: 01.IJRTET.03.05.170

FULL PAPER
International J. of Recent Trends in Engineering and Technology, Vol. 3, No. 5, May 2010

combinations, i.e., the ratio of end moments is -1, -0.5,

-0.25 and1, and negative symbol represent forming
simple curvature in the beam.
It should be noted that contrary to warping, twist may not
occur in the two ends of the beam. Holes in the

The above equation may be applied when equal end

moments are imposed on the beam and consequently no
shear occurs in the beam. However, in practice, end
moments are not often equal. In order to consider bending
moment changes along distance between two lateral
supports, moment-gradient factor was multiplied by
(Mo)cr:

M cr = C b .( M 0 ) cr .
(2)
Where, Mcr is critical moment for beams under impure
bending and Cb is moment-gradient factor. The following
relation was suggested by AISC to determine Cb [1-5].

M
M
C b = 1 .75 + 1 .05 1 + 0 .3 1
M2
M2

2 .3 .

(3)
In order to investigate the lateral-torsional buckling
behavior of castellated beams, comprehensive
experimental studies have been conducted by Kerdal and
Nethercot [7-10] and Mahmoodian [8]. In addition, other
researchers such as Mohebkhah [9] have examined the
problem using finite element method. According to the
literature review, it has been realized that although many
studies have been performed to determine momentgradient factor of webbed beams [6], only Mohebkhah [9]
studied this factor for inelastic castellated beam under
distributed and concentrated load.

Figure 3. Geometry and loading of castellated beam.

castellated beams are hexagonal with the center-to-center

distance of 1.5 times of profile height. Moreover, in order
to inhibit local yielding, moments are applied as uniform
compression couple to the top and bottom of the flange in
the finite element model.
IV. MODEL VALIDATION
Three different lengths for webbed beams have been
selected to validate the model. Afterwards, the results
obtained from the model have been compared with those
from theoretical relation proposed by Timoshenko. This
is illustrated in Fig 4 (moments are in KN.m).
As cited in the above charts, the difference between
these two methods is low and is 3 percent in some cases.
This low difference can be attributed to the
approximations used in the Timoshenko method. Since
moment ratio was used to determine moment-gradient
factor, therefore, the error decreased and reached to less
than 1 percent. Accordingly, beams modeled in the
software can be accepted.

II. FINITE ELEMENT MODEL

With the aim of evaluating the lateral-torsional
buckling behavior of castellated beams with hexagonal
holes in the web, linear-elastic finite element models was
developed by ANSYS Software [2] and then Eigen value
analysis was performed. This software utilizes SHELL93
to model web and flanges. Flanges have been models
using four elements in the width. Young's modulus and
Poisson's ratio were taken as 210 GPa and 0.3,
respectively. In this study, the effects of residual stresses
and welding of two parts have not been considered.

Figure 4. Comparison of results obtained from Timoshenko and finite

element model
Figure 2. Finite element model.

V. DETERMINATION OF MOMENT-GRADIENT FACTOR (CB)

In this section, moment-gradient factor of simply
supported castellated beams obtained from finite element
method has been compared with those from AISC. The
following tables show the moment-gradient factors for
three loading combinations on different beams. The value
of M1/M2 in the first, second and third loading
combination is taken as 1, -0.5 and -0.25, respectively. In

III. GEOMETRY, LOADING AND SUPPORT CONDITION

For the sake of comparison between moment-gradient
factors obtained from finite element method and building
code, simply supported beams 140,180, 220 and 300 with
spans about 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 m have been investigated.
The analysis has been performed under four loading
17
2010 ACEE
DOI: 01.IJRTET.03.05.170

FULL PAPER
International J. of Recent Trends in Engineering and Technology, Vol. 3, No. 5, May 2010

TABLE II.
COMPARISONS OF MOMENT-GRADIENT FACTOR

Type

CPE300

Length/Height

F.L.C.

S.L.C.

T.L.C.

3.33

0.22

0.80

0.56

5.33

0.78

1.30

1.44

7.33

1.69

1.31

1.51

8.33

1.98

1.31

1.52

10.33

2.31

1.31

1.53

2.30

1.30

1.51

Factor suggested by AISC

Figure 5, 6 and 7 show a comparative illustration of the

moment-gradient factor between three methods, namely
finite element method, AISC and proposed relation.
The proposed factor for CPE 300 due to the first loading
combination is as follows:

7.0
0.13
h

L
Cb = 1.40 7.0 < 10.5 .
h

L
2.30
> 10.5

TABLE I.
COMPARISONS OF MOMENT-GRADIENT FACTOR

Type

CPE140

CPE180

CPE220

CPE300

Length/Height

F.L.C.

S.L.C.

T.L.C.

4.33

0.74

1.29

1.42

9.33

2.38

1.31

1.54

14.33

2.42

1.31

1.52

23.33

2.67

1.31

1.53

47.33

2.62

1.31

1.52

4.33

0.63

1.28

1.37

7.15

1.97

1.31

1.52

11.33

2.49

1.32

1.54

18.33

2.65

1.31

1.54

37.33

2.64

1.31

1.53

3.33

0.26

0.96

0.68

6.33

1.41

1.31

1.50

9.33

2.27

1.32

1.53

15.33

2.61

1.32

1.54

30.33

2.67

1.32

1.54

2.33

0.13

0.50

0.34

4.33

0.42

1.23

1.07

6.33

1.22

1.30

1.48

11.33

2.41

1.32

1.54

22.33

2.67

1.32

1.54

2.30

1.30

1.51

Factor suggested by AISC

Figure 6. Moment-gradient factor in the second loading combination

The proposed factor for CPE 300 due to the second

loading combination is as follows:

4.0
0.50
h

L
Cb = 1.00 4.0 < 7.0 .
h

L
1.30
> 7.0

accordance with table 7 in AISC for elastic beams, the

moment-gradient factor only depends on the loading
combination. AISC consider moment-gradient factor for
elastic beams, for the first, second and third loading
combination equal to 2.30, 1.30 and 1.51.

(5)

Figure 5. Moment-gradient factor in the first loading combination

The proposed factor for CPE 300 due to the third loading
combination is as follows:

Comparison of the moment-gradient factor of simply

supported castellated beams indicted that the computed
factor is the same of moment-gradient factor specified by
building code only in the long and mean length beams.
The moment-gradient factor of some models is higher
than that of in AISC. This difference can be ignored for
the purposes of design safety. However in the short
length beam, the computed factor is lower than the factor
suggested by AISC, because in the short length, behavior
of beams are plastic. This difference for CPE300 is more
than others. Therefore, shorter-length beams of CPE 300
have been modeled to increase accuracy in the factor
modification.

4.5
0.34
h

L
Cb = 1.08 4.5 < 8.0 .
h

L
1.51
> 8.0

(6)

It was observed that moment-gradient factors due to all

three loading combinations require modification. In
general, the computed moment-gradient factor of long
18

2010 ACEE
DOI: 01.IJRTET.03.05.170

(4)

FULL PAPER
International J. of Recent Trends in Engineering and Technology, Vol. 3, No. 5, May 2010

REFERENCES

and mean length beams is the same of building code

factor, however, this factor is lower than building code
factor in short-length beams.

[1] American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), Load

and resistance factor design specification for structural
steel buildings, Chicago (IL): AISC, 1999.
[2] ANSYS; Users manual, version 10.0.
[3] M. Azhari and R. Mirghaderi, Design of steel structures,
Arkan publication, Esfahan, First volume, Second edition,
2003 [In Persian].
[4] W. F. Chen, E.M. Lui; Structural Stability (Theory and
Implementation), Elsevier Science, 1987.
[5] Iranian steel building code, 2005 [In Persian].
[6] M. Jiho, W. Jong, H. C. Byung, L. Hak-Eun, Lateral
torsional buckling of I-girder with corrugated webs under
uniform bending, Thin-Walled Structures, Elsevier, 2008.
[7] D. Kerdal, DA. Nethercot, Failure modes for castellated
beams, J Construct Steel Res, 1984, 4(4):295315.
[8] B. Mahmoodian, lateral-torsional buckling of web in the
castellated beams, M.Sc thesis in civil engineering,
Tehran university, 1995.
[9] A. Mohebkhah, The moment-gradient factor in lateral
torsional buckling on inelastic castellated beams,
Constructional Steel Research, Elsevier, 60, 14811494,
2004.
[10] D.A. Nethercot, D. Kerdal , Lateraltorsional buckling of
castellated beams, Struct Eng, Lond, 60B (3), 5361,
1982.
[11] Sh. Tahooni, Design of steel structures on the basis of
Iranian steel building code, Elmo adab publication,
Tehran, 2007 [In Persian].
[12] S. P. Timoshenko, J. M. Gere, Theory of Elastic
Stability, Second Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1961.

CONCLUSIONS
In this study, the problem of lateral-torsional buckling
of simply supported castellated beams under pure
bending has been investigated using finite element
method through a wide range of beams slenderness. In
such beams, moment-gradient factor is much affected by
slenderness. Therefore, it can be concluded that momentgradient factor does not only depend on the loading type
but also on the slenderness of castellated beams. As the
beam length decreases and the moment inertia increases,
the difference between the computed and suggested
moment-gradient factor increases. Accordingly, in the
beams with low free span length, the moment-gradient
factor obtained from finite element model is lower than
that of from building code and using such momentgradient factor may lead to an unsafe design
Moreover, a simple relation was proposed to determine
gives moment-gradient factor on the basis of loading
type.

19
2010 ACEE
DOI: 01.IJRTET.03.05.170