School of Civil Engineering Sydney NSW 2006 Australia: Shear Buckling of Thin-Walled Channel Sections

School of Civil Engineering
Sydney NSW 2006

AUSTRALIA

http://www.civil.usyd.edu.au/

Centre for Advanced Structural Engineering

Shear Buckling of Thin-Walled
Channel Sections

Research Report No R885

Cao H Pham BE MConstMgt MEngSc
Gregory J Hancock BSc BE PhD DEng

August 2007

ISSN 1833-2781

Centre for Advanced Structural Engineering
http://www.civil.usyd.edu.au/

Shear Buckling of Thin-Walled Channel Sections


Cao H Pham, BE, MConstMgt, MEngSc
Gregory J Hancock, BSc, BE, PhD, DEng

August 2007

Abstract:
The elastic buckling stresses of channel sections with and without lips and
subject to shear forces parallel with the web are determined where the
computational modelling of the thin-walled steel sections is implemented by
means of a spline finite strip analysis. Both unlipped and lipped channels are
studied where the main variables are the flange width, different boundary
conditions and shear flow distribution are considered in this study. The channel
sections are also analysed at different lengths to investigate the effect of
length/width ratio on the critical shear buckling stresses. Comparisons between
cases and with classical solutions are included in this report.

Keywords:
Shear buckling; Thin-walled channel sections; Lipped and unlipped channel
sections; Spline finite strip method; Shear buckling capacity; Twisting and
lateral buckling mode.
Shear Buckling of Thin-Walled Channel Sections August 2007

2

Copyright Notice

School of Civil Engineering, Research Report R885

Shear Buckling of Thin-Walled Channel Sections
2007 Cao H. Pham & Gregory J . Hancock
Email: C.Pham@usyd.edu.au
hancock@eng.usyd.edu.au

ISSN 1833-2781

This publication may be redistributed freely in its entirety and in its original
form without the consent of the copyright owner.

Use of material contained in this publication in any other published works must
be appropriately referenced, and, if necessary, permission sought from the
author.

Published by:
The University of Sydney
Sydney NSW 2006
AUSTRALIA

August 2007

This report and other Research Reports published by the School of Civil
Engineering are available on the Internet:

http://www.civil.usyd.edu.au


3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................3
1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................5
2. MODELLING SECTIONS UNDER PURE SHEAR..............................6
2.1 Spline Finite Strip Method........................................................................6
2.2 Shear Stress Distribution..........................................................................7
2.3 Lateral Restraints and Boundary Conditions ...........................................8
3. RESULTS OF BUCKLING ANALYSES ..............................................10
3.1 Unlipped Channel Section Length = 1000 mm, b
1
/a = 0.2 .................10
3.2 Lipped Channel Section Length = 1000 mm, b
1
/a = 0.2 .....................12
1
/a = 1.0 ...................15
1
/a = 1.0 .......................18
4. CONCLUSION .........................................................................................20
REFERENCES..................................................................................................21


4


5

1. INTRODUCTION
Thin-walled sections can be subjected to axial force, bending and shear. In the
cases of axial force and bending, the actions causing buckling, either Euler
buckling for compression or flexural-torsional buckling for flexure, are well
understood. However, for shear, the traditional approach has been to investigate
shear plate buckling in the web alone and to ignore the behaviour of the whole
section including the flanges. There does not appear to be any consistent
investigation of the full section buckling of thin-walled sections under shear.
This paper provides solutions to the shear buckling of complete channel
sections loaded in pure shear parallel with the web.
The analysis of the shear buckling strength of flat rectangular plates has been
performed by many investigators (Timoshenko and Gere, 1961; Bulson, 1970;
Bleich, 1952). For a thin flat plate of length a, width b
1
and thickness t simply
supported along all four edges, and loaded by shear stresses distributed
uniformly along its four edges, these stresses are equal to the elastic buckling
value
cr
, when the plate buckles out of its original plane. The shear buckling
stress of an elastic rectangular plate is given by Timoshenko and Gere (1961)
as:

2
1
2
2
) 1 ( 12

=
b
t E
k
v cr
(1)
where E =modulus of elasticity; =Poissons ratio; b
1
=width of the plate; t =
thickness of the plate. k
v
is the shear buckling coefficient, which depends on the
boundary conditions and the aspect ratio of the rectangular plate a/b
1
. As the
plate is shortened, the number of local buckles is reduced and the value of k
v
for
a plate simply supported on all four edges is increased from 5.34 for a very long
plate to 9.34 for a square plate. An approximate formula for k
v
as a function of
the aspect ratio of rectangular plate a/b
1
is given as:

2
1
4
34 . 5
+ =
b
a
k (2)


6

To analyse complete channel sections, the shear buckling analysis is based on a
spline finite strip analysis (Lau and Hancock, 1986) implemented by Gabriel
Eccher in the program ISFSM Isoparametric Spline Finite Strip Method
(Eccher, 2007). Both unlipped and lipped channels of varying section geometry
are investigated. Three different methods, which represent different ways of
incorporating the shear stresses in the thin-walled section, are used in this paper.
These include pure shear in the web only, pure shear in the web and the flanges,
and a shear distribution similar to that which occurs in practice allowing for
section shear flow. A significant outcome of the study is lateral buckling under
shear of sections with narrow flanges. Consequently, sections with and without
lateral restraints are studied
2. MODELLING SECTIONS UNDER PURE SHEAR
2.1 Spline Finite Strip Method
The spline finite strip method (Cheung, 1976) is a development of the semi-
analytical finite strip method. It uses spline functions in the longitudinal
direction in place of the single half sine wave over the length of the section. The
advantage of the spline finite strip analysis is that boundary conditons other than
simple supports can be easily investigated and buckling in shear is also easily
accounted for. The spline finite strip method involves subdividing a thin-walled
member into longitudinal strips where each strip is assumed to be free to deform
both in its plane (membrane displacements) and out of its plane (flexural
displacements). The ends of the section under study are free to deform
longitudinally but are prevented from deforming in a cross-sectional plane.
Unlipped Channel
The geometry of the unlipped channel studied is shown in Fig 1. The channel
sections consist of a web of width 200 mm, a flange of width 0.01 mm to 160
mm, both with thickness of 2 mm. The member is subdivided into 36
longitudinal strips which include 16 strips in the web and 10 strips in each
flange. The lengths of the member studied are 1000 mm and 200 mm. The
aspect ratios of the web rectangular plate are therefore b
1
/a =0.2 and b
1
/a =1.0
respectively.


7
Lipped Channel
The geometry of the lipped channel studied is shown in Fig 2. The channel
section consists of a web of width 200 mm, a flange of width 0.01 mm to 160
mm, a lip size of 20 mm, all with thickness 2 mm. The member is subdivided
into 40 longitudinal strips which include 16 strips in the web, 10 strips in each
flange and 2 strips in each lip. The lengths of the member studied are 1000 mm
and 200 mm. The aspect ratios of the web rectangular plate are therefore b
1
/a =
0.2 and b
1
/a =1.0 respectively.
b
2
0
0

m
m
b
0.01 -160 mm
2
1
a
1
0
0
0
m
m
b
2
0
0

m
m
b
0.01 -160 mm
2
1
a
1
0
0
0
m
m
2
0

m
m
2
0

m
m

Figure 2. Lipped Channel Geometry Figure 1. Unlipped Channel Geometry
2.2 Shear Stress Distribution
In order to demonstrate the different ways in which a channel member may
buckle under shear stress, four cases of shear stress distribution are investigated.
In Cases A and B, uniform pure shear stress is applied throughout the web panel
as shown in Fig 3(a), 4(a). The only difference between Case A and B is that
two longitudinal edges of the channel member in Case A are restrained laterally
whereas there is no restraint along the two longitudinal edges in Case B. In
Case C, the pure shear stress is uniform in both the web and the flanges as
shown in Fig 3(b), 4(b). Although this case is unrealistic in practice, it
investigates the effect of the flanges on the buckling of the member under pure
shear stress. Case D models the case which occurs in practice namely, a shear
flow distribution as shown in Fig 3(c), 4(c) resulting from a shear force parallel
with the web. To simulate the variation in shear stress, each strip in the cross-
section is assumed to be subjected to a pure shear stress which varies from one
strip to the other strip. The more the cross-section is subdivided into strips, the
more accurately the shear stress is represented in order to match the practical
shear flow distribution.


8
b
2
0
0

m
m
b
0.01 -160 mm
2
1
a
1
0
0
0
m
m
b
2
0
0

m
m
b
0.01 -160 mm
2
1
a
1
0
0
0
m
m
b
2
0
0

m
m
b
0.01 -160 mm
2
a
1
0
0
0
m
m
1

(a) Case A & Case B

(b) Case C (c) Case D
Figure 3. Shear Flow Distribution in Unlipped Channel
b
2
0
0

m
m
b
0.01 -160 mm
2
1
a
1
0
0
0
m
m
b
2
0
0

m
m
b
0.01 -160 mm
2
1
a
1
0
0
0
m
m
b
2
0
0

m
m
b
0.01 -160 mm
2
a
1
0
0
0
m
m
2
0

m
m
2
0

m
m
2
0

m
m
2
0

m
m
2
0

m
m
2
0

m
m
1

(a) Case A & Case B (b) Case C (c) Case D

Figure 4. Shear Flow Distribution in Lipped Channel

2.3 Lateral Restraints and Boundary Conditions
Two types of boundary conditions are used for the analysis of all cases in this
report. A combination of lateral restraints along the two longitudinal edges of
web panels and simply supported edges of the end cross-section plane is applied
in Case A. In the remaining cases (Cases B,C & D), there are no lateral
restraints along the two longitudinal edges of web panels. All edges of the end
cross-section are simply supported. Fig 5 and Table 1 show the lateral restraints
and boundary conditions of the unlipped channel. Fig 6 and Table 2 show those
for the lipped channel.

9
y
z
x
3
5
1
6
2
8
7
4

Table 1. Boundary Conditions of Unlipped Channel
Cases Edges u v w
A
1 2 5 6
3 4 7 8
1
0
0
0
0
1
B,C & D
1 2 5 6
3 4
7 8
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
Note: u, v and w are translations in the x,y and z
directions respectively. 0 denotes free and 1 denotes
restraint DOF

Figure 5

y
z
x
5
7
3
8
4
6
1
9
10
2
12
11

Cases Edges u v w
A
3 4 7 8
1 2 5 6 9 10 11 12
1
0
0
0
0
1
B,C & D
3 4 7 8
1 2 5 6 9 10
11 12
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
Note: u, v and w are translations in the x,y and z
directions respectively. 0 denotes free and 1 denotes
restraint DOF
Table 2. Boundary Conditions of Lipped Channel Figure 6


10
3. RESULTS OF BUCKLING ANALYSES
1
/a = 0.2
Case A Case B Case C Case D
Section b
2
/b
1 Buckling
Stress
(MPa)
k
v
Buckling
Stress
(MPa)
k
v
Buckling
Stress
(MPa)
k
v
Buckling
Stress
(MPa)
k
v
200x0.01 0.00005 99.603 5.510 1.965 0.109 1.965 0.109 1.966 0.109
200x5 0.025 101.072 5.591 3.315 0.183 3.315 0.183 3.310 0.183
200x10 0.05 102.936 5.695 10.479 0.580 10.477 0.580 10.434 0.577
200x15 0.075 104.688 5.791 21.333 1.180 21.271 1.177 21.721 1.202
200x20 0.1 106.332 5.882 31.024 1.716 30.799 1.704 31.532 1.744
200x40 0.2 111.922 6.192 72.415 4.006 69.537 3.847 70.485 3.899
200x60 0.3 116.138 6.425 105.803 5.853 96.219 5.323 98.372 5.442
200x80 0.4 119.240 6.596 118.100 6.533 93.982 5.199 106.974 5.918
200x100 0.5 121.464 6.720 120.811 6.683 73.607 4.072 109.965 6.083
200x120 0.6 123.020 6.806 122.565 6.780 55.702 3.081 111.250 6.155
200x140 0.7 124.090 6.865 123.739 6.845 43.273 2.394 110.958 6.138
200x160 0.8 124.817 6.905 124.526 6.889 34.362 1.901 108.735 6.015

Table 3. Buckling Stress and The Shear Buckling Coefficients (k
v
) of Unlipped Channel Section

0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
8.0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Case A
Case B
Case C
Case D
k
v

b
2
/b
1

Figure 7. The Ratio of Flange and Web Widths (b
2
/b
1
) and The Shear Buckling Coefficients (k
v
)


11
The results of the bucking analyses of the unlipped channel section with a
length of 1000 mm are shown in Table 3 and Fig 7 for the ratios of flange to
web widths (b
2
/b
1
) from 0.00005 to 0.8. The buckling stresses and the shear
buckling coefficients (k
v
) of all Cases (A,B,C & D) are also included in this
table. The corresponding buckling modes are shown in Fig 8.
As can be seen in Fig 7 which illustrates the relation between the ratio of flange
and web widths (b

2
/b
1
) and the shear buckling coefficients (k
v
), when the flange
width is very small (0.01 mm), the value of k
v
for Case A with lateral restraint is
5.51 which is very close to the theoretical result (Timoshenko and Gere, 1961;
Bulson, 1970; Bleich, 1952). As the flange width increases, the value of k
v

increases as a result of the elastic torsional restraint of the flange on the web.
However, for Case B, the shear flow applied is similar to Case A with no lateral
restraints along the two longitudinal edges of web panel. It can be seen in Fig 7
and Fig 8 that the channel member buckles sideways for the ratio of b
2
/b
1
of
0.00005 and the value of k is then very close to zero (0.109). The value of k
v v

increases slightly to 0.183 when the ratio of b
2
/b
1
is 0.025. It is interesting to
note that when the ratio of b
2
/b
1
increases from 0.025 to around 0.3, the value of
k
v
increases dramatically from 0.183 to 5.853. Fig 8 shows the twisting buckling
mode shape in the cases of the ratio of b
2
/b
1
from 0.025 to 0.3. As the ratio of
b
2
/b
1
keeps increasing to 0.4, the value of k
v
still improves but the increment
reduces. Finally, the curve matches with that of Case A. The explanation is due
to the fact that there is apparently more lateral and torsional restraint being
provided by the flange.

Case A
200x0.01
200x20
200x100
200x160
Case B
200x0.01
200x20
200x100
200x160


12

It can be seen in Fig 7 that in Case C with pure shear flow applied in the web
and the flange and in Case D with actual shear flow applied, when the flange
width is small (from 0.01mm to 40mm), the values of k
v
are not significantly
different from that of Case B. However, from the ratio of b
2
/b
1
of 0.4 the value
of k
v
for Case C reduces dramatically whereas the value of k
v
for Case D still
increases but are below that of Case B. The explanation is mainly a result of the
effect of shear stresses in the flanges.
1
/a = 0.2

Section b
2
/b
1 Buckling
Stress
(MPa)
k
v
Buckling
Stress
(MPa)
k
v
Buckling
Stress
(MPa)
k
v
Buckling
Stress
(MPa)
k
v
200x0.01x20 0.00005 106.370 5.885 2.363 0.131 2.915 0.161 2.349 0.130
200x5x20 0.025 111.791 6.184 13.950 0.772 16.672 0.922 13.724 0.759
200x10x20 0.05 121.327 6.712 27.841 1.540 34.436 1.905 28.110 1.555
200x15x20 0.075 130.441 7.216 41.338 2.287 49.896 2.760 41.234 2.281
200x20x20 0.1 136.668 7.561 55.185 3.053 64.570 3.572 54.153 2.996
200x40x20 0.2 139.021 7.691 109.082 6.035 113.316 6.269 101.054 5.590
200x60x20 0.3 135.454 7.493 133.336 7.376 132.631 7.337 119.021 6.584
200x80x20 0.4 132.683 7.340 131.654 7.283 130.722 7.232 119.440 6.608
200x100x20 0.5 130.749 7.233 130.129 7.199 128.335 7.100 119.440 6.608
200x120x20 0.6 129.416 7.159 128.985 7.136 121.320 6.712 119.337 6.602
200x140x20 0.7 128.495 7.109 128.163 7.090 97.709 5.405 119.116 6.590
200x160x20 0.8 127.857 7.073 127.581 7.058 78.997 4.370 118.734 6.569

Figure 8. Buckling Mode Shape of Unlipped Section Length =1000 mm, b
2
/a =0.2
Table 4. Buckling Stress and The Shear Buckling Coefficients (k
v
) of Lipped Channel
Case C
200x0.01
200x20
200x100
200x160
Case D
200x0.01
200x20
200x100
200x160

13

0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
8.0
9.0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0
Case A
Case B
Case C
Case D
k
v
b
2
/b
1
.9

Figure 9. The Ratio of Flange and Web Widths (b /b ) and The Shear Buckling Coefficients (k )
2 1 v

Table 4 and Fig 9 show the results of the buckling analyses of the lipped
channel section with a length of 1000 mm and the ratios of flange to web width
(b
2
/b
1
) from 0.00005 to 0.8. The lip size of 20 mm is used throughout the
analyses. The corresponding buckling mode shapes are shown in Fig 10.

Fig 9 shows the relationship between the ratio of flange and web width (b
2
/b
1
)
and the shear buckling coefficients (k ). As the ratio of b

v 2
/b
1
is small (0.00005),
the value of k
v
for Case A with lateral restraint is 5.885 which is slightly higher
than that of Case A in Section 3.1. The reason is due to the presence of two lips
which improves the shear capacity of the channel section member. As the ratio
of b
2
/b
1
increases to 0.1, the value of k
v
goes up rapidly. The explanation is that
the small flange width with the lip contributes significantly to shear buckling
capacity of the lipped channel section. It should be noted that when the ratio of
b
2
/b
1
increases from 0.1 to 0.2, the value of k
v
improves slowly from 7.561 to
7.691 respectively. The value of k
v
then reduces to 7.073 as the flange width
increases to 0.8. The explanation for this fact is due to the effect of flange
slenderness. As the flange width is small, there is little or no effect of flange
slenderness on the shear buckling capacity. However, when flange width
increases, the effect of flange slenderness is quite considerable.

14

It can be seen in Fig 9 that without lateral restraints along two longitudinal
edges of the web panel when the ratio of b
2
/b
1
is 0.01, the values of k
v
for Case
B and C are quite small (0.131 and 0.161 respectively). Fig 10 shows that the
lipped channel members of Case B and C buckle sideways. When the ratio of
b
2
/b
1
increases from 0.01 to 0.3, the values of k
v
for Case B and C also increase
to 7.376 and 7.337 respectively which are higher than those of the unlipped
channel section in Section 3.1 due to the presence of the lips. As can be seen in
Fig 10, the buckling mode shapes are twisting modes. This can be explained
that the flanges with lips affect partly on the lateral restraints along two
longitudinal edges of the web panel.
As the ratio of b
2
/b
1
increases to 0.3, the k
v
curves of Case B and C nearly match
with that of Case A. The flanges with lips are long enough to give full lateral
restraints to the lipped channel section members. While the values of k
v
for
Case B are very close to that of Case A as the ratio of b
2
/b
1
increases from 0.3 to
0.8 , the value of k
v
for Case C reduces when the ratio of b
2
/b
1
is in the range 0.5
to 0.8. The reason is that Case C with pure shear flow applied in both the web
and the flange buckles in the flanges as well as the web and the lips buckle
sideways.
Figure 10. Buckling Mode Shape of Lipped Section Length =1000 mm, b
2
/a =0.2
200x0.01x20
200x20x20
200x100x20
200x160x20
Case A
200x0.01x20
200x20x20
200x100x20
200x160x20
Case B
200x0.01x20
200x20x20
200x100x20
200x160x20
Case C
200x0.01x20
200x20x20
200x100x20
200x160x20
Case D

15
In Case D with actual shear flow applied, the relation curve between the ratio
b

2
/b
1
and the value of k is similar to that of Case B. As the ratio of b
v 2
/b
1

increases from 0.01 to 0.4, the value of k
v
increases rapidly from 0.130 to 6.608.
From the ratio of b
2
/b
1
of 0.4, the value of k
v
reduces slightly to 6.569. As can
be seen in Fig 10, the k
v
curve of Case D is below that of Case A. This is
apparently due to the effect of the shear stress developed in the flanges.
However, the lips do not buckle sideways as for Case C.
1
/a = 1.0

b Section
2
/b Buckling Buckling Buckling Buckling 1
k k k k Stress
(MPa)
Stress
(MPa)
Stress
(MPa)
Stress
(MPa)
v v v v
200x0.01 0.00005 167.111 9.245 75.750 4.191 75.750 4.190 79.854 4.418
200x5 0.025 170.386 9.426 115.742 6.403 115.696 6.400 110.790 6.129
200x10 0.05 174.201 9.637 164.038 9.075 163.942 9.069 134.194 7.424
200x15 0.075 177.452 9.817 173.080 9.575 173.017 9.572 142.032 7.857
200x20 0.1 180.206 9.969 177.745 9.833 177.768 9.834 147.531 8.162
200x40 0.2 187.489 10.372 186.599 10.323 186.981 10.344 161.939 8.959
200x60 0.3 191.091 10.571 190.417 10.534 190.015 10.512 170.424 9.428
200x80 0.4 192.910 10.672 192.298 10.638 171.895 9.509 175.708 9.720
200x100 0.5 193.865 10.725 193.280 10.693 133.935 7.409 179.060 9.906
200x120 0.6 194.384 10.754 193.816 10.722 111.707 6.180 181.211 10.025
200x140 0.7 194.672 10.770 194.117 10.739 97.847 5.413 182.582 10.101
200x160 0.8 194.831 10.778 194.286 10.748 88.480 4.895 183.411 10.147

Table 5. Buckling Stress and The Shear Buckling Coefficients (k ) of Unlipped Channel
v

16
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Case A
Case B
Case C
Case D

k
v
b
2
/b
1

Figure 11. The Ratio of Flange and Web Widths (b /b ) and The Shear Buckling Coefficients (k
The results of the bucking analyses of the unlipped channel section with a
length of 200 mm are shown in Table 5 and Fig 11. Table 5 includes different
channel sections, the ratios of flange and web width (b
2
/b
1
), the buckling
stresses and the shear buckling coefficients (k
v
) of all Cases (A,B,C & D). The
relationships between the ratio of flange and web width (b
2
/b
1
) and the shear
buckling coefficient (k
v
) for all four cases are plotted in Fig 11. The
corresponding buckling mode shapes are shown in Fig 12.
It can be seen in Table 5 that when the ratio of b
1
/b
2
is 0.00005, the value of k
v

for Case A with lateral restraints along edges of web panel is 9.245 which is
close to the theoretical value (Timoshenko and Gere, 1961; Bulson, 1970;
Bleich, 1952). As the ratio of b
2
/b
1
increases to 0.8, the value of k
v
increases to
10.778. The shear buckling capacity is therefore improved as the flange width
increases.

At the ratio of b
2
/b
1
of 0.00005, the values of k
v
for Case B, C and D with no
lateral restraints are 4.191, 4.190 and 4.418. These values are significantly
higher than those of the unlipped channel member of 1000 mm length in
Section 3.1. It is interesting to note that with greater ratio between the web
width and member length (b
1
/a) the value of k
v
is significantly greater than 0.0
even for very small flange widths. It can also be seen in Fig 12 the buckling
mode shapes of these cases are both sideways and twisting.

2 1 v
)

17
200x0.01
200x40
200

For small increment of the ratio of b
2
/b
1
from 0.00005 to 0.05, the values of k
v

for Case B and C increase dramatically to 9.075 and 9.069. As the ratio of b
2
/b
1

keeps increasing to 0.1, the k
v
curves for these cases are close and start matching
with that of Case A. It can be seen that the ratio of b
2
/b
1
only needs to increase
to 0.1 to get full lateral restraint, whereas for the 1000 mm length unlipped
channel section member in Section 3.1 the ratio of b
2
/b
1
needed to

increase to
0.3 to achieve the same effect. Similar to Case C in Section 3.1, the value of k
v

reduces when the ratio of b
2
/b
1
increases from 0.3 to 0.8 due to shear buckling
which mainly occurs in the flanges. In Case D with the actual shear flow
applied, the increment of the value of k
v
is quite similar to that of Case B.
However, the k
v
curve of Case D is lower than that of Case B.The explanation is
that there is gradual shear flow distributed in the flange and the shear flow in
the web is parabolic instead of pure shear as in Case B.

Figure 12. Buckling Mode Shape of Unlipped Section Length =200 mm, b
2
/a =1.0
Case A
x100
200x160
Case B
200x0.01
200x40
200x100
200x160
Case C
200x0.01
200x40
200x100
200x160
Case D
200x0.01
200x40
200x100
200x160

18
1
/a = 1.0

b

Section
2
/b Buckling Buckling Buckling Buckling 1
k k k k Stress
(MPa)
Stress
(MPa)
Stress
(MPa)
Stress
(MPa)
v v v v
200x0.01x20 0.00005 180.273 9.973 94.148 5.208 99.713 5.516 92.735 5.130
200x5x20 0.025 194.069 10.736 166.975 9.237 169.337 9.368 137.805 7.624
200x10x20 0.05 203.498 11.258 188.970 10.454 189.524 10.485 154.758 8.561
200x15x20 0.075 206.220 11.408 198.663 10.990 198.822 10.999 164.369 9.093
200x20x20 0.1 206.409 11.419 202.172 11.184 202.295 11.191 169.483 9.376
200x40x20 0.2 202.658 11.211 201.719 11.159 201.845 11.166 175.956 9.734
200x60x20 0.3 199.598 11.042 199.098 11.014 199.107 11.015 177.964 9.845
200x80x20 0.4 197.783 10.942 197.382 10.919 197.226 10.911 179.450 9.927
200x100x20 0.5 196.728 10.883 196.352 10.862 195.948 10.840 180.797 10.002
200x120x20 0.6 196.101 10.849 195.731 10.828 194.911 10.783 182.016 10.069
200x140x20 0.7 195.717 10.827 195.346 10.807 193.764 10.719 183.063 10.127
200x160x20 0.8 195.471 10.814 195.099 10.793 191.913 10.617 184.165 10.188

Table 6. Buckling Stress and The Shear Buckling Coefficients (k ) of Lipped Channel
v
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.
Case A
Case B
Case C
Case D
k
v
b
2
/b
1
9

Figure 13. The Ratio of Flange and Web Widths (b /b ) and The Shear Buckling Coefficients (k
2 1 v
)

19
Table 6 and Fig 13 show the results of the buckling analyses of the lipped
channel section with a length of 200 mm and ratios of flange to web widths
(b
2
/b
1
) varying from 0.00005 to 0.8. The lip size of 20 mm is used throughout
the analyses. The corresponding buckling mode shapes are shown in Fig 14.

As can be seen in Fig 13, the value of k
v
for Case A is 9.973 which is higher
than 9.245 of the unlipped channel section in Section 3.3 when the ratio of b
2
/b
1

is 0.00005. The value of k increases to 11.419 when the ratio of b

v 2
/b
1
reaches
0.1 and then reduces slightly when the ratio of b
2
/b
1
keeps increasing to 0.8. The
explanation is quite similar to that of Section 3.2. The flanges with lips
contribute to the improvement of shear buckling capacity of lipped channel
section member and the slenderness of flange width is the reason for the
reduction of the value of k when the flange width is larger.
v

200x0.01x20
200x40x20
200x100x20
200x160x20
Case A
200x0.01x20
200x40x20
200x100x20
200x160x20
Case B

200x0.01x20
200x40x20
200x100x20
200x160x20
Case C
200x0.01x20
200x40x20
200x100x20
200x160x20
Case D

Figure 14. Buckling Mode Shape of Lipped Section Length =200 mm, b /a =1.0
2

It can be seen in Fig 13 that the k
v
curves of Case B and Case C coincide. The
values of k are 5.208 and 5.516 respectively when the ratio of b
v 2
/b
1
is 0.00005.
The values of k
v
increase to 11.184 and 11.191 which are close to that of Case A
as the ratio of b
2
/b
1
is 0.1. The values of k
v
then reduce slightly and match with
that of Case A. It is interesting to note that the value of k
v
for Case C does not
reduce as the ratio of b
2
/b
1
increases to 0.8 due to pure shear flow in the lip and
flange. This fact can be explained that flanges with lips and short member
length (L=200 mm) improve considerably the shear buckling capacity of the
flanges. The k
v
curve of Case D is quite similar to that of unlipped channel
section in Section 3.3. The value of k is higher due to the presence of the lips.
v


20

4. CONCLUSION
This report has outlined buckling analysis of channel section members subject
to shear stresses. Unlipped and lipped channels were analysed by the
Isoparametric Spline Finite Strip Method program. Four different shear flow
distribution cases with two boundary conditions are considered in this study.
These boundary conditions are simply supported with and without lateral
restraints along two longitudinal edges of web panel. Two different member
lengths were chosen to investigate the effect of length/width on the shear
buckling stresses.
By varying the flange width, the analysis results show that the flanges can have
a significant influence on improvement of the shear buckling capacity of thin-
walled channel sections. Moreover, it is also demonstrated that the lack of
lateral restraint for sections with narrow flanges can lead to premature buckling
of the section in a twisting and lateral buckling mode.

21

REFERENCES
Bleich, H. 1952. Buckling Strength of Metal Structures, McGraw-Hill Book
Co. Inc, New York, N.Y.
Bulson, P. S. 1970. Stability of Flat Plates, Chatto & Windus Ltd., London
W.C.2.
Cheung, Y. K. 1976. Finite Strip Method in Structural Analysis, Pergamon
Press, Inc., New York, N.Y.
Eccher, G. 2007. Isoparametric spline finite strip analysis of perforated thin-
walled steel structures, PhD Thesis, The University of Sydney, University
of Trento, Australia & Italia.
Lau, S. C. W. and Hancock, G. J . 1986. Buckling of Thin Flat-Walled
Structures by a Spline Finite Strip Method, Thin-Walled Structures, Vol. 4
1986, pp 269-294.
Timoshenko, S. P. and Gere, J . M. 1961. Theory of Elastic Stability,
McGraw-Hill Book Co. Inc, New York, N.Y.

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