Distortional buckling in braced-cantilever I-beams

This paper deals with distortional buckling of braced-cantilever monosymmetric I-beams under three types of load: a tip point load, a uniformly distributed load and a moment at the end. Top-flange and bottom-flange load positions are considered for the first two load cases. ABAQUS is used for the investigation. The effect of different types of bracing on buckling load is investigated. Results are compared with results from previous experimental investigations. It is also found that top lateral bracings are very effective for beam sections having larger bottom-flanges when a point load or a uniformly distributed load acts at the top-flange, and for the uniform moment case, except for the T-section or the inverted T-section cantilever beams. On the other hand, bottom lateral bracings are very effective for beam sections having larger top-flanges. When loads are placed at the bottom-flange, position of any kind of lateral bracing has practically no effect on the buckling capacity of a monosymmetric cantilever beam, except for the inverted T-section cantilever beams.