Numerical investigation on lateral torsional buckling of welded Q460 steel beams

In recent years, high strength steel has gradually attracted the attention of the construction industry, due to its high yield strength, tensile strength, good performance of resistance to brittle failure and high reliability of structures. Common finite element ABAQUS software is employed in this paper to simulate the lateral torsional buckling of Q460 welded beams. Finite element analysis models considering initial geometric imperfections were conducted. Besides, parametric studies were carried out to evaluate the effect of key parameters on the global stability behavior of Q460 beams as well. And the results obtained from finite element analysis simulations were compared with the design buckling curves from Chinese steel structure design codes (GB50017-2003, GB50017-201X) and AS4100. Finally, new design buckling curves are presented in this paper in order to evaluate the global stability behavior of Q460 steel beams.