LOCAL/DISTORTIONAL/GLOBAL MODE INTERACTION IN SIMPLY SUPPORTED COLD-FORMED STEEL LIPPED CHANNEL COLUMNS.

This paper reports the results of a numerical investigation concerning the elastic and elastic-plastic post-buckling behavior of cold-formed steel-lipped channel columns affected by local/distortional/global (flexural-torsional) buckling mode interaction. The results presented and discussed are obtained by means of analyses performed in the code ABAQUS and adopting column discretizations into fine four-node isoparametric shell element meshes. The columns analysed (i) are simply supported (locally/globally pinned end sections with free warping), (ii) have cross-section dimensions and lengths ensuring equal local, distortional, and global (flexural-torsional) critical buckling loads, thus maximizing the mode interaction phenomenon under scrutiny, and (iii) contain critical-mode initial geometrical imperfections exhibiting different configurations, all corresponding to linear combination of the three "competing" critical buckling modes. After briefly addressing the lipped channel column "pure" global post-buckling behavior, one presents and discusses in detail numerical results concerning the post-buckling behavior of similar columns experiencing strong local/distortional/global mode interaction effects. These results consist of (i) elastic (mostly) and elastic-plastic equilibrium paths, (ii) curves and figures providing the evolution of the deformed configurations of several columns (expressed as linear combinations of their local, distortional, and global components) and, for the elastic-plastic columns, (iii) figures enabling a clear visualization of (iii1) the location and growth of the plastic strains, and (iii2) the characteristics of the failure mechanisms more often detected in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]