Elastic axially compressed buckling of battened columns

This paper presents an analytical solution for the linear elastic buckling analysis of simply supported battened columns subjected to axial compressed loading. The critical buckling load is derived by using the classical energy method. Unlike most of existing work, the present approach considers not only the shear effect but also the discrete effect of battens on the global buckling behaviour of the columns. The present analytical solution is validated using the data obtained from the finite element analysis. The results show that the number of battens has significant influence on the critical buckling load of battened columns, particularly when the relative rigidity of the batten to the main member is small. It is shown that the critical buckling load increases with the number of battens, the combined bending and shear rigidity of battens, but decreases with the increased membrane stiffness of the two main members, and the increased distance between the centroids of the two main members.