Lateral torsional buckling and strengthening techniques of coped beams with corrugated webs

摘要

This paper addresses lateral torsional buckling of coped beams with corrugated webs. ABAQUS is the finite element software package used to develop three-dimensional models to investigate the influence of copes on the lateral torsional buckling resistance of this type of beams. It is found that the ultimate capacity of beams is remarkably reduced by 40%-80% depending on the cope geometry. The reduction in the capacity depends on the cope length and cope depth compared to the capacity of un-coped corrugated web beams. The coped beams with corrugated webs still exhibit a greater capacity than do the corresponding coped beams with flat webs. Design equations are developed to depict the strength of coped beams with corrugated webs. In addition, due to the low stiffness in the longitudinal direction of the corrugated beams and the absence of the flange in the coped region, the web has a tendency to elongate, and the corrugations are flattened. This phenomenon affects displacements both vertically and laterally and results in large deformations that are not acceptable in engineering practice. Strengthening solutions are introduced in this study to solve this problem.