Elastic-plastic load-carrying capacity of steel members

The load-carrying capacity of steel structures and members subjected mostly to bending depends in large measure on local stability of their compressed flanges and bending webs in decided cross-sections and areas. Depending on local stability, the elastic or plastic, eventually the elastic-plastic analysis and design can be applied. The actual standards for design of steel structures contain relatively detailed rules for elastic analysis by the elastic theory and for plastic analysis by the plastic theory. The elastic-plastic analysis and design of steel members are meanwhile still problematic from theory, standard and application point of view. The real elastic-plastic behavior of the steel members is complicated strength and stability problem. Therefore, the representative experimental knowledge and results about the real elastic-plastic behavior and mechanisms of failure of the steel members have been very important from the scientific and applied aspects. The author of paper realized in previous time the wide experimental research within the range of this intention. The paper contains selected knowledge and results of the previous experimental-theoretical investigation of the elastic-plastic local stability of the steel members subjected mostly to bending. The adequate slenderness – strain relation and methodology for practical calculation of the elastic-plastic bending load-carrying capacity of the steel cross-sections and members are presented in the paper.