Lateral-torsional buckling of coped beams with corrugated webs

Abstract

This thesis deals with lateral torsional buckling of Coped beams with corrugated webs. Three-dimensional models are developed using a finite-element software package ABAQUS to investigate the influence of copes on the lateral-torsional buckling resistance of beams with corrugated webs.

It was found that there is a considerable reduction in the ultimate capacity of beams due to coping. This reduction depends upon the cope length and cope depth compared to un-coped corrugated beams. The coped beams with corrugated webs still have higher capacity than coped beams with flat webs.

In addition, due to the low stiffness in the longitudinal direction of the beam and the absence of the flange in the coped region, the web will have the tendency to elongate and the corrugation will flatten. These phenomena affect displacements both vertically and laterally, and result in large deformation that is not acceptable in engineering purposes. Strengthening solution is introduced in this research to solve this problem.