Abstract
This paper deals with a theoretical and a numerical analysis of tapered beam‐columns subjected to a bending moment and an axial force. A standard FEM code COSMOS/M has been used for a numerical estimation of a critical load multiplier. It has been assumed that the critical force of an axially loaded tapered column could be calculated in an analogous way as for uniform member just with an additional correction factor αn. Similarly, a critical bending moment of the tapered column subjected to a pure bending could be determined by using a correction factor αm. A large number of simulations carried out within a wide range of the ratios of second moments of area allowed to determine the proper values of theses two factors. For practical engineers, solution of such kind of problems can be easier when an equivalent cross‐sectional height htr is used.
Highlights
During the last years, light steel structures have been extensively used as being the most effective in practical application
Such a case in Vlasovs theory of thin-walled beams [7] is investigated as pure bending, so a value of critical bending moment can be solved for a uniform beam with an I-section, according to European design code [1], as: Mcr§ ̈©
For a more "exact" modelling the typical triangle shell element from the code COSMOS/M was applied (Fig 5). These finite elements are defined by 18 degrees of freedoms (DOF)
Summary
Light steel structures have been extensively used as being the most effective in practical application. The use of automatic welding techniques minimises the cost of such tapered members Their contours are quite close to the bending moment diagram, so the bearing capacity of cross-sections is effectively utilised. There is no need of many additional stiffeners in this case Analysis of such a kind of frames is rather complicated and not widely investigated. It is obvious that results of buckling analysis for a tapered column under the combination of an axial force and a bending moment cannot be obtained just by adding the solutions obtained for those loads acting separately because this dependency is non-linear. There a possibility to solve stability problem depended on wellknown separate buckling shape modes as well as on corresponding load factors of an axial force and bending moment was presented which provided the accuracy satisfactory for practical applications. As one can see from this review, there are no commonly accepted methods for an analysis of tapered columns in the literature
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