Interactive Buckling in Prestressed Steel Stayed Columns

Columns reinforced by pre-tensioned stays generally have an increased strength in axial compression. They provide an engineering solution where very slender columns are desired. Although a few studies into its post-buckling behaviour exist, interactive buckling, a potentially more dangerous instability, had never been investigated. The current work investigates this for the most popular stayed column configuration using the nonlinear FEA code ABAQUS. It is shown that interactive buckling governs when a higher mode governs the critical buckling response and there is a commensurate decrease in the maximum load capacity.