ABSTRACT

H-section beam-columns under compression and bending moment about their stronger principal axis are generally sensitive to flexural-torsional buckling when insufficiently restrained against lateral-torsional deformations. Depending upon the section inertia properties about principal axes and the proportion between the compressive axial force and the maximum bending moment, the influence of large displacements on the buckling resistance may be more or less important, or even negligible. In this paper, the effect of prebuckling and postbuckling displacements on the buckling state of H-section beam-columns is evaluated, finite element simulations are performed and their results are discussed with regard to the Eurocode’s General Method postulated for engineering practice.