Stability of cantilever walls of steel thin-walled bars with open cross-section

• The stability of compressed cantilever walls of steel thin-walled bars with open cross-section was investigated theoretically.
• The degree of the wall elastic restraint and longitudinal stress variation were accounted for.
• Graphs of plate buckling coefficients and buckling modes were determined.
• Approximation formulas of coefficients k for different stress distributions and different degrees of the elastic restraint were derived.
• A computational example was presented.

In thin-walled bars with open cross-section, built from flat walls, cases are found in which, the cantilever wall, elastically restrained in the web, is compressed, and at the same time, longitudinal variation in stresses along its length occurs. Such a wall can be analyzed as a cantilever thin plate, elastically restrained against rotation on the longitudinal supported edge. The paper presents the results of investigations into the stability of elastically restrained cantilever plates for varied stress intensity in the longitudinal direction. Graphs of plate buckling coefficients (k) were determined and approximation formulas were derived for technically crucial stress distributions and different degrees of the plate edge elastic restraint. The impact of longitudinal stress variation and of the degree of elastic restraint on the plate buckling modes was analyzed.