Lateral-torsional buckling of girders with class 4 web: Investigation of coupled instability in EC3-based design approach

Abstract

This article focuses on the lateral-torsional buckling resistance of girders with slender, class 4 cross-sections with a research aim to check the accuracy of the design resistance model of EN1993-1-1 and EN1993-1-5 on the coupled instability of lateral-torsional buckling and local plate buckling resistances. The current Eurocode-based design method considers in the effective cross-sectional resistance calculation that yield strength is reached in the extreme fibre of the cross-section, and the reduction factor $({\rho }_p)$ related to local plate buckling is calculated based on this assumption. However, if lateral-torsional buckling occurs, maximum stress in the web can be significantly smaller at the ultimate limit state which is not considered in the effective cross-sectional resistance calculation. On the other side, EN1993-1-1 proposes to consider the effective bending moment resistance in the relative slenderness calculation of lateral-torsional buckling, which is in contradiction with the general definition of the relative slenderness ratio $({\overline{\lambda }}_{\mathrm{LT}})$ , which should refer to the plastic resistance divided by the critical load of the structure. This article aims to check if the current Eurocode-based design rules need improvement and to check the effect of the above-mentioned specific issues on the calculated lateral-torsional buckling resistance. An extensive numerical research programme is executed to check and compare the lateral-torsional buckling resistance of class 3 (as reference) and class 4 cross-sections, and results are compared to Eurocode-based design models.