Lateral–torsional buckling analysis of thin-walled beams including shear and pre-buckling deformation effects

In this paper, lateral–torsional buckling behavior of open-section thin-walled beams is investigated based on a geometrically nonlinear formulation, which considers the effects of shear deformations. A finite element numerical solution along with an incremental-iterative solution procedure is adopted to trace the pre-buckling as well as the post-buckling equilibrium paths. Formulation is applicable to a general type of open-section and load position effects are also included. Numerical results are validated through comparisons with experimental results and those based on other formulations presented in the literature. Comparisons have also been made between the results based on fully nonlinear analysis and linearized buckling analysis in order to illustrate the effects of pre-buckling deformations as well as the shear deformations on the buckling load predictions. Examples illustrate the influence of beam slenderness and moment gradient on the effects of pre-buckling deformations in predicting bucking loads.