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Distortional buckling resistance of cold-formed steel

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Abstract

The design of cold-formed steel structures is generally ruled by the ultimate buckling limit state. Most cold-formed steel profiles display open and rather thin-walled cross sections, which means that their structural behavior is strongly affected by buckling. On profiles with stiffened sections, such as C, Zee, rack and hat, there is the occurrence of distortional buckling. However, verifying distortional buckling is not trivial. According to the Brazilian standard, knowledge of the critical load that causes distortional buckling is necessary to design cold-formed steel profiles. Nevertheless, the code does not provide a procedure to obtain this critical load. This paper conducts a brief literature review of the distortional buckling mode and, by means of software for linear stability analysis, developed by the authors, presents the resistances associated with the distortional buckling of various cold-formed steel profiles, enabling structural elements design according to the Brazilian standard.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank FAPESP—the São Paulo Research Foundation, CAPES—Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel and CNPq—the Brazilian National Council of Scientific and Technological Development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Structural Engineer, Polytechnic School of University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, trav.3, n.380, São Paulo, SP, 05508-010, Brazil

    Igor Pierin & Valdir Pignatta Silva

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  1. Igor Pierin
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  2. Valdir Pignatta Silva
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Correspondence to Igor Pierin.

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Technical Editor: Marcelo A. Savi.

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Pierin, I., Silva, V.P. Distortional buckling resistance of cold-formed steel. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 37, 1163–1171 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-014-0252-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-014-0252-x

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