Improved physical theory model for strut members in long-span spatial structures

Abstract

ABSTRACT Physical theory models for strut members have been proposed in the past few years to efficiently and accurately investigate the influence of member buckling on the dynamic failure mechanism of long-span spatial structures. However, most of them can only simulate the Bauschinger effect without considering the reduction behavior of critical loads under cyclic load reversals. This study devoted to propose an improved physical theory model based on the authors' previous work. Cyclic loading tests on circular and square members were conducted. The range of slenderness ratio of the specimens is from 60 to 130, which is commonly used in long-span spatial structures. Based on the experimental results, empirical coefficients are introduced to the improved model, in which each member can be discretized by only one beam element. Using this model, the cyclic buckling behavior of members can be efficiently and accurately considered with various section types, slenderness ratios, and boundary conditions. Finally, the improved model is verified by experiments conducted in this study and in previous studies. A close agreement is found between the simulated and experimental results.