Investigations using numerical and experimental methods on cold-formed castellated beams

Abstract

In this work the performance of castellated metal beams that are elevated and standard is examined in the context of coupled distortional buckling and lateral torsional regimes A precise nonlinear 3D finite element model was built to evaluate the beams The original geometric flaw and the nonlinearities of the materials were considered in the investigation The nonlinear simulation model was validated using tests on castellated beams of varied lengths and crosssections In this study loadlateral deformation curves of cantilevered steel beams as well as interactions between failure loads and bending modes were investigated The effect of modifications in crosssection shapes beam size and steel hardness on the stiffness and buckling performance of castellated steel beams was examined using a finite element analysis The existence of web distortional buckling reduces the failure load of slender cantilevered steel beams considerably according to the parametric analysis It is also shown that the failure stresses of less thin castellated steel beams are greatly increased when high strength steel is used The specification projections for castellated steel beams collapsing by web distortional collapsing high strength cantilevered beams collapsing by lateral bending and standard strength cantilevered steel beams collapsing by lateral torsional buckling are all shown to be cautious