POSTBUCKLING INTERACTION ANALYSIS OF COLD-FORMED THIN-WALLED CHANNEL SECTIONS BY FINITE STRIP METHOD

An elastic-plastic large-deflection finite strip method has been set up to compute the interaction behaviour of initially deflected and eccentrically loaded cold-formed thin-walled channel sections. The ultimate loads of the sections are estimated under the loading of a constant compression eccentricity and a constant load eccentricity, respectively. A series of conclusions, which are valuable for channel section design, are obtained through many numerical calculations. A test programme associated with the Moire fringe technique is performed. Comparisons of analytical and experimental results reveal that the finite strip method possesses a high accuracy in elastic-plastic large-deflection analysis of plates and sections.