Postbuckling behaviour of thin-walled girders with orthotropy varying widthwise

Postbuckling behaviour of elastic thin-walled orthotropic girders has been analysed within the second order of the Koiter's asymptotic stability theor y of conservative systems (Koiter, 1963). Girders built of orthotropic plat es with the principal directions of orthotropy parallel to the wall edges c haracterised by a widthwise varying orthotropy coefficient beta (i) = E-yi/ E-xi have been investigated. The girders with square and trapezoid sections , simply supported on the loaded edges, have been analysed. The girders hav e been subjected to the loads that cause a uniform and linearly variable sh ortening of the edges. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.