Elastic and inelastic major-axis flexural buckling of cellular steel columns

This study investigates the elastic and inelastic major-axis flexural buckling of cellular steel columns. Based on the stationary principle of potential energy, the existing elastic buckling load equation is refined to incorporate the local bending deformations at web posts. The column strength curve for determining the critical loads is then derived. For the elastic buckling, the refinement provides a significant improvement. For the inelastic buckling, the effects of residual stresses and initial geometric imperfections on the column strength are examined by the validated nonlinear finite element (FE) models. The initial geometric imperfection amplitudes of L/300 and L/500, where L is the column length, are recommended for global buckling of cellular steel columns fabricated from the parent steel shapes with h/b ≤ 1.2 and h/b > 1.2, respectively, where h/b is the depth-to-width ratio of the parent steel shapes. The developed column strength curve conservatively predicts the major-axis flexural buckling strength of practical cellular steel shapes, with an average prediction-to-FE buckling stress ratio of 0.97. A comparison also shows that the current EC3 and AISC360 equations are applicable for predicting the strength of practical cellular columns, provided that the refined elastic buckling load is adopted.