This study is all about the presentation of the results of the analyses made to determine the inelastic lateral torsional buckling strength of singly symmetric singly stepped I-beam with constant depth subjected to basic loading condition. A finite element program ABAQUS and a regression program MINITAB are used to analyze the simply supported singly symmetric singly stepped I-beams having singly symmetric ratio, ρ, of 0.1 to 0.9 and a Lb/h ratio of 4.5. Using the results of the analyses made, a design equation is suggested that can easily calculate the stepped beam correction factor Cist which then can be used to determine the inelastic lateral torsional buckling strength of singly symmetric singly stepped I-beams subjected to pure bending moment. Then, the results from the equation proposed are compared with the results obtained from the finite element analysis. The results obtained show acceptable results for singly stepped beams having a ρ of 0.3 to 0.9 and a very conservative result for a ρ of 0.1.

Recently, as the level of market competition in the structural engineering field continues to rise, structural designers are finding other ways to make their designs stand out. One way of doing that is to make the designs more economical without sacrificing efficiency. As a result, the use of stepped beams and the studies involving it has become more common. Stepped beams are beams that have a sudden increase in cross section along its length. The change in cross section is made by increasing the width and/or the thickness of the flanges along a certain length while maintaining the dimensions of the web. Most of the studies involving lateral torsional buckling of stepped beams are focused on developing equations and studying the effects of symmetry. However, the studies involving actual test experiments are still very limited. Thus, this study has three main objectives. The first objective of this study is to give a brief historical overview on the series of studies involving the lateral torsional buckling capacity of stepped beams and give an idea on its current state of the art. The second objective is to determine if the intuitive expectation that the lowest critical moment always corresponds to uniform bending moment holds true for stepped beams. The degree of symmetry is varied and several loading conditions are observed. The third objective of this study is to determine the actual inelastic lateral torsional buckling capacity of doubly stepped singly symmetric I-beams having compact and non-compact flange sections subjected to two point loading condition and to use the results obtained to determine the applicability of previously proposed equations in predicting the buckling strength of stepped beams. The results are obtained by conducting actual destructive tests on doubly stepped I-beams using a universal testing machine and running simulation tests using the finite element program, ABAQUS. The main factors that are considered for the experimental and finite element analysis are the degree of beam symmetry, the loading condition, the supports, the stepped beam factors and the unsupported length. The degree of symmetry of all the stepped beams analyzed is fixed at 0.7. The unsupported lengths of the beams analyzed are 3 meters and 4 meters. The results obtained from the analysis are compared with the results from design specifications to determine the effects of steps and from proposed design equations to determine the equations’ applicability and safety. Finally, the results revealed that the stepped beams did have an increase in lateral torsional buckling capacity in comparison with the prismatic beams and that the proposed equations are suitable to be used in predicting the strength of stepped beams having compact flanges under the observed loading condition. However, for beams having non-compact flanges, the previously proposed equations produced over conservative results. Further study can also be made on stepped beams with varying degree of symmetries, loading conditions, boundary conditions and stepped beam parameters.

This study focuses on the effects of load height on the inelastic lateral buckling of doubly stepped I-beams. The effects of having compact and non-compact flanges are also covered by this study. Two sections are analyzed: one having compact flanges and web while the other section has a compact web and non-compact flanges. The loadings are limited to those having an inflection point of zero. Also, the three main locations for the loads analyzed would be at the top of the flange, at the shear and at the bottom flange. The nonlinear analysis is done using the finite element program, ABAQUS. Also, to take into consideration the effect of inelastic buckling, residual stresses and geometric imperfections are applied to the models made. The results of the analysis would then determine if the location of the loads has significant effects on the buckling strength of the stepped beams. Also, the results are compared to the results of previous studies involving the effects of load-height on prismatic beams. The final results are tabulated and conclusions and new design methods are provided.

본 연구에서는 비탄성 영역 내 비지지 길이가 존재하고 양단 및 일단 계단식 단면을 가지는 일축대칭 변단면 I형보의 해석적·이론적 연구를 토대로 하여 비탄성 횡-비틀림 좌굴 강도 해석을 실시하였다. 하중조건으로는 비지지 길이 내 모멘트가 0인 지점이 개수에 따라 모델을 구분지어 적용시켰으며, 플랜지 길이방향 비, 너비 방향 비, 두께의 비로 변단면 I형보를 나타내었다. 비선형 횡-비틀림 좌굴 해석을 위해 단순직선분포를 잔류응력으로 가정하였으며, 국내 I형강 표준 치수 허용치에 근거하여 부재 길이의 0.1%를 초기 최대 횡변위로 적용하여 초기변형으로 고려하였다. 유한요소해석에 사용된 프로그램은 ABAQUS(2009)이며, 회귀분석프로그램인 MINITAB(2006)을 이용해 간편한 설계식을 제안하고 있다. 본 연구 결과에서 개발·제안된 식은 향후 비탄성 횡-비틀림 좌굴 강도에 대한 연구에 많은 도움이 될 것이다.