ABSTRACT
Thin-walled metal member slenderness usually leads to structural behaviours governed by plasticity/ instability effects. Their assessment can be based on Generalised Beam Theory (GBT), an elegant/efficient well known approach with a unique modal nature – displacement field is a linear combination of crosssection deformation modes. The first inelastic postbuckling GBT formulation is due to Gonçalves & Camotim (2012), based on the J2-flow theory. Abambres et al. (2013b,c) developed/validated an alternative GBT code, (i) based on a distinct mode set and (ii) first applied to strain-hardened materials. This paper (i) presents an overview of the developed formulation, and (ii) shows its potential for tubular member analyses, validated against Abaqus SFEA.
