• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.305-326
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• 2005

The inelastic buckling behaviour of continuously restrained two and three-span continuous beams subjected to concentrated loads and uniformly distributed loads are studied in this paper. The restraint type considered in this paper is fully restrained against translation and elastic twist applied at the top flange. These types of restraints are most likely experienced in industrial structures, for example steel-concrete composite beams and half through girders. The buckling analysis of continuous beam consists of two parts, firstly the moment and shear distribution along the member are determined by employing force method and the information is then used for an out-of-plane buckling analysis. The finite element method is incorporated with so-called simplified and the polynomial pattern of residual stress. Owing to the inelastic response of the steel, both the in-plane and out-of-plane analysis, which is treated as being uncoupled, extend into the nonlinear range. This paper presents the results of inelastic lateral-torsional and lateral-distortional buckling load and finally conclusions are drawn regarding the web distortion.