Design of angle trusses by codes and second-order analysis with experimental verification

Popular national design codes provide varied buckling formulae for design of trusses composed of angle members under different end conditions. The reliability of these design methods highly depends on the accuracy in estimating the effective length, slenderness modification equations and the interaction equations. To date, design method using the second-order analysis has become popular because it captures directly the behavior in analysis and eliminates the error in a linear analysis and design such as assumption of the effective length factor. In this paper, the predicted failure loads of the angle trusses by different codified method would be compared with test results. Further, a refined second-order analysis method is proposed here to the design of angle trusses composed of single angle members with accuracy verified by comparing the predicted and the test results.