SHEAR STRAIN EFFECTS IN LATERAL STABILITY OF THIN-WALLED FIBROUS COMPOSITE BEAMS

An analytical study of the transverse shear strain effect on the lateral buckling of thin-walled, open-section fibrous composite beams is presented in order to derive a better estimate of load capacity. Uniformly distributed and transverse central point loads are applied, being two popular loading systems, on simply and clamped supported I-section beams. An analytic-numerical moment method is used as an effective approach for solving the coupled system of differential equations. The present study highlights the insensitivity of the shear factor for UDL (uniformly distributed load) systems in lateral buckling. However, the results show, in short-span composite beams under concentrated central loads, the shear factor causes a considerable drop in the buckling load.