Experimental investigation of C-beams with non-standard flanges

• Beams with box flanges lost stability before stresses exceeded the yield strength.
• Beams collapsed in elastic–plastic and plastic range.
• The inner part of compressed flanges moved inward just from the beginning of tests.
• The agreement between the experimental and analytical results was satisfactory.

The paper presents results of experimental investigations of stability and limit load of cold-formed thin-walled channel beams with non-standard flanges subjected to pure bending. Critical and limit loads were determined using a strength testing machine. Obtained results were compared with analytical solutions. The influence of non-standard flanges on the critical load and limit load was shown as well.