RESEARCH ON THE LOCAL LOAD-BUCKLING CAPACITY OF THE COPED STEEL I-BEAM

In the steel construction, the secondary beams have to be coped so that their flanges are in the same elevation with the primary beam. The cope diminishes the lateral stiffness of the steel beams, so around the cope there turns to be a buckling sensitive area. This thesis has comprehensively explored the influence of cope length, cope depth and width-thickness ratio of the webs. It also analyzes the limitations of an ideal equation for the buckling load calculation, which is derived from theory and ignores many effects. As the cope length, cope depth and width-thickness ratio changed, corresponding buckling load values are achieved in the simulation. Some rules and conclusions are obtained by analyzing and comparing these calculated results. Enlarging the cope length and cope depth will make the buckling load decline. However, when the cope length achieves a certain degree, the influence is minor due to the parameter, which even leads to improve the buckling capacity of the steel beam. When the cope length and cope depth both stay the same, the width thickness ratio of the webs has a major impact on the load-buckling capacity.