Buckling failure of an unusual braced steel frame supporting an electric dust-catcher

This paper presented a detailed description of an unusual braced steel frame supporting an electric dust-catcher, which failed in March 2006, in Cizhou Anhui Province of the eastern China. Its unusuality is that there are two hinges within each column of the upper storey. It is out of the engineer’s knowledge on the structural stability. This paper analyzed the buckling of this structure, and the effective lengths of columns are determined through a detailed procedure. Using the exactly determined effective lengths, check is carried out on the original design. And 10–28% overstress was found in 12 of the total 15 columns. Further explanation is presented through analyzing a 2-span column within which a hinge is located at its mid height of one segment.