ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an introduction to flexural-torsional buckling. It presents an historical survey and reviews structural behaviour of buckling and of design against buckling. Flexural-torsional buckling is a primary consideration in the design of steel structures, as it may reduce the load-carrying capacity. It is not confined to individual members, but also occurs in rigid-jointed structures, where continuity of rotations between adjacent members causes them to interact during buckling. The modern popularity of the linear elastic model of structural behaviour arises from the widespread availability of computer programs for linear elastic analysis. The elastic buckling behaviour of a structure can be regarded as the limit of the elastic non-linear behaviour. While inelastic behaviour affects the buckling actions, it also reduces the buckling resistance below the corresponding elastic resistance. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
