Local buckling limits of tubular sections in bending and compression

Abstract

In design standards and recommended practices a large scatter can be observed in local buckling limits. Some can be explained from different design focuses and safety requirements but much is not clear. The traditional design approach for structures is on stresses and forces. Effects that influence the local buckling behaviour are taken into account by reduction factors on the limit stress. This may lead to over conservative and inconsistent designs. A better approach is to quantify the effects that have an influence on local buckling on the basis of the local buckling strain. Then stresses and resulting bending moment capacities can be determined (strain-based design). A survey of test results and differences in various design standards is given. Reasons for the scatter in experiments are identified. There is a need for harmonization in design standards, focusing on the practical needs for each application. © 2010 The University of Hong Kong.