Thermoelastic flexural–torsional buckling of steel arches

This paper presents the lateral buckling behaviour of steel arch members with a doubly symmetric I-shape cross-section subjected to a linear gradient temperature field over the cross-section. The steel arch is subjected to an in-plane linear temperature gradient field whilst it experiences expansion along its length due to the in-plane temperature gradient producing an in-plane curvature. As the steel arch continues to be subjected to increasing temperature differential and increasing average temperature, the bending moments and axial compressive forces in the steel arch increase and upon reaching a critical value, the steel arch bifurcates from its primary equilibrium position and fails in lateral–torsional buckling mode. A novel non-discretisation mechanical-based methodology developed recently is used to model the behaviour of the steel arch prior to buckling, whilst the classical buckling theory is used to determine the critical temperature which causes flexural–torsional buckling. The proposed methodology allows for the critical temperature gradient and critical average temperature to be ascertained using an iterative method. Using a comprehensive parametric study, the variations of the thermal gradient and the critical average temperature to various parameters are then investigated. The model proposed here provides a closed-form solution for which it forms a platform which can be used for structural steel arch design and evaluation in the development of codified approaches to fire design on a performance based design.

Research highlights
► This paper addresses thermoelastic lateral buckling of steel arch members.
► A novel non-discretisation methodology is used to model arch prior to buckling.
► Classical buckling theory is used to determine the critical buckling temperature.
► A closed-form solution is then proposed to evaluate the critical thermal profile.