Prediction of the flexural strengths of welded H-sections with local buckling

This paper describes the flexural strength of welded sections based on a series of flexural tests performed on H-sections fabricated from steel plates of thickness 6.0 mm with nominal yield stress of 315.0 MPa. Thin-walled flexural members undergo local, lateral-torsional or their interactive buckling according to the section geometries and lateral boundary conditions. Flexural members with the flanges or the web of large width-to-thickness ratios may undergo local buckling before lateral-torsional buckling and their interaction before the final collapse of the section. The local buckling has a negative effect on the flexural strength based on the lateral-torsional buckling. This phenomenon should be considered in the estimation of the nominal flexural strength of thin-walled flexural members. Welded H-section beams composed of the flanges and the web with various width-to-thickness ratios were tested to failure. The initial imperfections in local and lateral buckling mode, and residual stresses were included in the FE analyses. Simple design flexural strength formulas for the direct strength method (DSM) were proposed based on the test and FE results of welded sections to account for interaction between local and lateral-torsional buckling. The design strength curves were compared with the AISC specifications (2005), Eurocode3 (2003) and test results. The adequacy of the strength curve for the DSM was confirmed. A set of conclusions on the flexural strength and structural behavior of thin-walled welded H-sections was drawn from the experimental studies.