tension members to 240 for main members and to 300 for secondary members

or bracing, except rods. This is to limit vibrations and protect against incidental
loads, such as the weight of workers for which stress calculations may
not be computed. Including such considerations result in a more robust structure;
this can be applied to aluminum also. Such a structure is also capable
of resisting loads that have the audacity to be slightly different from the loads
chosen for structural checks.
5.2 COMPRESSION MEMBERS
In this section, we address members in axial compression. The shorthand term
in the Aluminum Specification for such members is columns. This term is not
limited to members actually serving as vertical columns in a building, but
rather applies to any member subject to axial compression regardless of its
location or orientation in a structure.
Wherever compression occurs, buckling lurks as a consideration. Buckling
is strongly influenced by a member�s dimensions, especially cross-sectional
widths, thicknesses, and configuration. The configuration of aluminum shapes
that can readily be fabricated by such methods as cold-forming and extruding
is almost unlimited, and the Aluminum Specification places no limits on the
proportions of members. Consequently, no buckling modes can be dismissed
without consideration. It�s not that aluminum buckles in ways no selfrespecting
piece of steel would; any metal produced in the variety of shapes
that aluminum is would require similar buckling checks. This discussion is,
thus, an explanation of the buckling behavior of metal columns in general.
First, let�s deal with a matter of terminology. Each structural shape is considered
to consist of one or more elements. (In the Aluminum Specification,
elements of shapes are also called components of shapes.) Elements are defined
as plates either rectangular or curved in cross section and connected
only along their edges to other elements (Figure 5.6). For example, an I-beam
consists of five elements: two rectangular plate elements in each of the two
flanges, and one rectangular plate element called the web. Examples of
shapes, called profiles in the aluminum industry, and their component elements
are shown in Figure 5.7. An angle is an example of a shape with only
two elements; one element for each leg. Other shapes may be considerably
more complex, but all are treated as assemblies of elements, each of which
are approximated by a rectangular plate or by a curved plate of a single radius.
It is helpful to first list all the ways that buckling can occur in a member,
called buckling modes, and then deal with them one at a time. Buckling may
be divided into two types: overall buckling, which occurs over the length of
the member (the way a yardstick buckles), and local buckling, which is confined
to an element of a cross section over a length about equal to the width
of the element. Figure 5.8 illustrates an example of overall buckling, which