BIFURCATION OF SINGLY SYMMETRICAL COLUMNS

The paper derives the governing equations for the fundamental and bifu rcated states of members with singly symmetric cross-sections that loc ally buckle in the fundamental state. The members are subject to pure compression and assumed to be geometrically perfect in the overall sen se, It is shown using the fundamental state equations that fixed-ended columns exhibit overall bifurcation behaviour while pin-ended columns do not. The bifurcation equation is applied to plain channel sections and the results are compared with tests of fixed-ended columns. The v ariation of the bifurcation loads with the length is shown to be in go od agreement with the tests. The results are shown to be sensitive to the magnitudes of local and overall geometric imperfections. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.