• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.7-13
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• 2010

Stepped I-beams having increased moment of inertia at one end (singly stepped beam) or both ends (doubly stepped beams) can often be seen in construction of bridges due to material economy and easy fabrication of the section. This paper presents the results of the parametric study of lateral torsional buckling of monosymmetric stepped I-beams with constant depth subjected to uniform moment. Design recommendations were made based on the finite element results of the models having different combinations of monosymmetric ratio, stepped length ratio, flange thickness ratio and flange width ratio. The proposed approximation is acceptable based on the parameters given having mostly conservative results. The proposed equation can be further used to extend the study to different loading conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.53-60
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• 2008

The cross-sections of continuous multi-span beams sometimes suddenly increase, or become stepped, at the interior supports of continuous beams to resist high negative moments. The three-dimensional finite-element program ABAQUS (2007) was used to analytically investigate the inelastic lateral-torsional buckling behavior of stepped beams subjected to linear moment gradient and resulted in the development of design equations. The ratios of the flange thickness, flange width, and stepped length of beam are considered for the analytical parameters. Two groups of 27 cases and 36 cases, respectively, were analyzed for doubly and singly stepped beams in the inelastic buckling range. The combined effects of residual stresses and geometrical imperfection on inelastic lateral-torsional buckling of beams are considered. First, the distributions of residual stress of the cross-section is same as shown in Pi and Trahair (1995), and the initial geometric imperfection of the beam is set by central displacement equal to 0.1% of the unbraced length of beam. The new proposed equations definitely improve current design methods for the inelastic lateral-torsional buckling problem and increase efficiency in building and bridge design.