Lateral-Torsional Buckling of Non-Prismatic I-Beams Using FEM Approach

Abstract

Essential steel components with variable cross-section are fabricated from welded plates, which are primarily employed for the growth of the construction industry in beams according to the stress and stiffness requirements of the structure. Lateral-torsional buckling, in which the beam experiences non-uniform twisting and buckling about its weaker axis, is one of the most common failure modes. This dissertation focuses primarily on the lateral-torsional buckle of non-prismatic I-beams. The development of differential equations for deformation analysis of the non-prismatic beam. ANSYS results and deformation equation results are compared to validate the methodology. Using ANSYS, the lateral torsional buckling of a non-prismatic I-beam section with uniformly distributed load is analyzed. In finite element analyses, the solid element approach is used to determine the lateral buckling load for various cross-sections (β = 0.1 to 1.0) by analyzing their behavior. In addition, a stiffener is used to prevent lateral buckling, and the results are compared to a model without stiffeners.

Keywords

• lateral-torsional buckling
• finite element method
• nonprismatic beam