Safety Assessment of Different Stability Design Rules for Beam-columns

In EC3-EN 1993-1-1, there are three different methods to check the global stability resistance of steel columns, beams, and beam-columns. The design formulas are based on buckling curves, which are available for purely compressed or purely bended members with uniform cross-sections. Beam-columns are subjected to compressive force and the bending moment can be designed using the so-called interaction formula where the interaction factors may be alternatively determined. Over the past few years, many research groups have worked on correcting and improving the accuracy of the available design methods for steel members. The aim of this paper is to compare the accuracy of the different revised methods for steel beam-columns. In order to investigate the accuracy of the above-mentioned design methods, numerous geometrically and materially nonlinear analyses with imperfections (also known as GMNIA) were executed by previous research projects. The results of the semi-probabilistic safety assessments may help the designer choose the most reasonable method for their design works.