CROSS BRACINGS IN TAPERED SYSTEMS - SEMIRIGID ENDS

Several analytical and experimental studies have been recently conduct ed on the behavior of cross-bracing systems subjected to out-of-plane buckling. Semirigid connections, however, were not considered or model ed. This paper derives and solves for the exact expressions for evalua ting the effective length factors of semirigidly connected cross braci ngs. Moreover, the expressions are derived for tapered systems where t he bracings arc connected at off-midspan locations. Parametric solutio ns for the end flexibility coefficient versus the buckling parameter a re graphically displayed to clarify distinct behavior, and solutions f or typical cases are provided. In the example cases, a double-wave mod e versus a single-wave mode is exhibited for the compression and tensi on members respectively when the tensile and compressive forces are eq ual, and when the tensile force is zero, both members show a single-wa ve mode.