ABSTRACT
Buckling modes of thin-walled sections include short and intermediate half-wavelength modes commonly called local and distortional. Local modes involve only plate flexural deformations whereas distortional modes involve flexural and membrane deformations of the plates forming the cross-section and occur at longer half-wavelength. These modes may interact with each other or with long half-wavelength buckling modes such as flexural and flexural-torsional. Design methods to account for these modes in engineering design have been proposed and partially incorporated into current and pending design standards. The paper discusses these modes, their interactions and current and proposed design methods in modern design standards. The paper also presents results of recent tests where the local and distortional buckling modes interact.
