LECTURE 5-2

Design of beams without full lateral

restraint
 General
The compression flange of an I-
beam acts like a column, and will
buckle sideways if the beam is not
sufficiently stiff or the flange is not
restrained laterally. The load at
which the beam buckles can be
much less than that causing the full
moment capacity to develop.
Consider the simply supported beam with ends free to rotate in
plan but restrained against torsion and subjected to end
moments, as shown in the Figure below. Initially, the beam
deflects in the vertical plane due to bending, but as the moment
increases, it reaches a critical value that is less than the
moment capacity, where it buckles sideways, twists and
collapses.
Elastic theory is used to set up equilibrium equations to equate
the disturbing effect to the lateral bending and torsional
resistances of the beam.
As said above, Compression flange of a member in bending
acts like a column and can buckle sideways if it is not
restrained laterally.

The Load which can cause buckling of the compression flange

can be much less than the one which will cause an Mmax equal
to the moment capacity of the beam. This effect is known as
LATERAL TORSIONAL BUCKLING
 Factors influencing lateral torsional buckling
(1) The unrestrained length of compression flange: The longer this is, the
weaker the beam. Lateral buckling is prevented by providing props at
intermediate points.
(2) The end conditions: Rotational restraint in plan helps to prevent
buckling.
(3) Section shape: Sections with greater lateral bending and torsional
stiffness have greater resistance to buckling.
(4) The application of the loads and shape of the bending moment
diagram between restraints.
(5) Lateral restraint to the tension flange also helps to resist buckling.
 Design Principle
When lateral-torsional buckling is possible, either over the full
span of the beam or between intermediate restraints, the
resistance of the beam to bending action will be reduced by its
tendency to buckle. According to Clause 4.3.6.2, the beam is
checked by calculating a buckling resistance moment Mb, and
an equivalent uniform moment factor mLT.
According to 4.3.1 BS5950-1:2000 if the compression flange
of a beam is not provided with full lateral restraints as described
in 4.2.2 of the code, then in addition to satisfying 4.2 (e.g.
Fv≤Pv, Mmax≤Mc etc.) , its resistance to lateral torsional buckling
should be checked as detailed in sections 4.3 of BS 5950-
1:2000.
 Design of beams without full lateral
restraint
The requirement is that, in addition to checking the moment
capacity (as above), the following should be satisfied:

where; Mb =Buckling resistance moment

MLT =Equivalent Uniform moment factor
The value of buckling resisistance depends on determination of
a bending strength, pb which is less than py , (Table 16).
Again pb =f{ƛLT,py}

ƛLT = Equivalent slenderness as per 4.3.6.7 as follows

 LE
 
ry
v (slenderness factor)=1, for equal flange beams(conservatively)
Alternatively; v may be determined from Table 19 of BS 5950-1,
depending on the value of the ratio ƛ/x, and the flange ratio ƞ.
where,
the torsional index x, is found from section tables
u = buckling parameter, is found from section tables,
Alternatively for rolled I and H sections of equal flanges may be
taken as 0.9 (4.3.6.8)
The ratio βw as per 4.3.6.9 is defined as 1.0 if the section
being used is Class 1 plastic or Class 2 compact.

If the section is Class 3 semi-compact, βw is the ratio Zx / Sx if

Z x is used rather than Sxeff as the modulus for the section.
Otherwise βw is Sxeff / Sx.

Conservatively, βw may always be taken as 1.0.

 Effective length

The effective length LE is determined from Table 13 for beams

and Table 14 for cantilevers, where LE is the effective length of
the segment length under consideration. In Table 13, LLT is the
segment length which, for a simply supported beam without
intermediate restraints, is its span.
More generally, LLT is the length of segment over which lateral-
torsional buckling can occur. It is therefore the distance
between points of restraint.
Table 13 Effective length LE for beams without intermediate
restraint
Table 14 Effective Length LE for cantilevers
Table 14 Effective Length LE for cantilevers(cont..)
 Loading conditions
Two loading conditions are identified; normal and destabilising.
Destabilising refers to a situation where the loading is applied to
the top flange of the beam or cantilever that is free to move
laterally with the load.

The normal condition thus refers to the situation where the load
is applied to the web or the bottom flange. Longer effective
lengths are associated with destabilising conditions, giving lower
values of pb and thus lower buckling resistance moments
Equivalent uniform moment factor, mLT (Table 18 of
BS 5950-1)

The values for pb, based on ƛLT, have been derived assuming that
the beam is under uniform moment throughout (as in Figure
below). In general, however, beams are subject to varying
bending moment along their length, which is a less severe
condition. It is possible to take advantage of this fact by using the
equivalent uniform moment factor m LT , which depends on the
shape of the bending moment diagram.

Reference case – uniform moment throughout

Table 18 Equivalent uniform moment factor mLT for
lateral torsional buckling
Table 18 Equivalent uniform moment factor mLT for
lateral torsional buckling (cont..)
Table 18 Equivalent uniform moment factor mLT for
lateral torsional buckling (cont..)
Calculation of bending resistance for beams without full
restraint
1. Determine the bending moment diagram for the beam
under factored loading and identify the maximum design
moment Mx, and the maximum shear Fv.
2. Determine L E from Table 13 for beams andTable 14 for
cantilevers.
3. Look up ry from section tables and evaluate ƛ as LE / ry .
4. Evaluate ƛLT as uvƛ(βw)0.5.
5. Determine pb from Table 16 or 17.
6. Compute the buckling resistance moment Mb as:
Mb = pb Sx for Class 1 plastic or Class 2 compact sections
Mb = pb Sxeff or pb Zx for Class 3 semi-compact sections

7. Ensure that Mx ≤ Mb / mLT (mLT may be derived from Table

18 of BS 5950-1, or may conservatively be taken as 1.0)

8. C h e c k t h a t M x ≤ M c x ( I f m LT = 1 . 0 , t h i s c h e c k i s
unnecessary)
 Calculation of bending resistance – a simpler
approach

An alternative method that is even simpler, but which loses a

little in economy, is available but is specifically restricted to
rolled sections with equal flanges.
In this method a value for pb may be determined from Table 20
of BS 5950-1 with input parameters of (βw)0.5LE/ry and D/T.
The buckling resistance moment can then be determined as in
step 6 above.
 TUTORIAL No. 4
Problem 1:
Design a simply supported beam carrying a concrete floor slab
over a span of 5.0 m in grade S275 steel. The unfactored dead
load, which includes an allowance for self weight, is 14 kN/m,
and the ultimate unfactored imposed load is 19 kN/m.
 Problem 2:

A beam is required to span 6.0 m and is to carry three point

loads at the quarter points, 1.5 m apart. Each factored load is
80 kN.The three loads are applied to the top flange of the beam
and they are free to move laterally. The compression flange is
unrestrained over the entire span. At one end the compression
flange has partial torsional restraint. At the other end both
flanges are not restrained to any reliable degree against rotation
on plan. Select a suitable UB section in grade S275 steel.