Buckling and optimal design of cold-formed thin-walled beams: Review of selected problems

The paper is devoted to cold-formed thin-walled channel beams with open or closed flanges. The global–local buckling and optimization of these beams are described. The review includes simple analytical description and calculations, numerical analysis, and the laboratory tests of selected beams. The buckling problems for flanges and webs of thin-walled beams are described in detail. Additionally, an objective comparison of the beams of different cross sections is presented. A quality measure of thin-walled beams is proposed. Comparison of selected thin-walled beams with use of the quality measure is presented in figures.