In-Plane Failure and Strength of Pin-Ended Circular Steel Arches Considering Coupled Local and Global Buckling

Abstract

AbstractLittle research has been reported that investigates the effects of plate local buckling and postbuckling on the in-plane behavior and strength of steel arches, and hitherto there has been no corresponding design guidance available. This paper presents a numerical investigation of the structural behavior of steel arches, and proposes a strength design method against their in-plane failure by considering plate local elastic-plastic buckling and postbuckling coupled with global elastic-plastic buckling. The failure modes of pin-ended steel circular arches having a box section under a uniformly distributed radial load are analyzed by using a large deformation elastic-plastic finite-element formulation. It is found that plate local buckling significantly influences the in-plane failure mode and strength of a steel arch. The arch may fail owing to local elastic-plastic buckling of its plates, global elastic-plastic buckling of the arch, or coupled local and global elastic-plastic buckling. The failure m...