Elastic snap-through buckling load of pitched-roof steel frames : technical paper

Recent proposals to avoid snap-through failure of practical pitched-roof steel frames incorporate the elastic snap-through buckling load of such frames. In this study it is shown that the elastic snap-through buckling load used in these proposals is far higher than the snap-through buckling load obtained from a more rigorous elastic analysis. The background details and the results of such rigorous snap-through analysis are presented and compared with experimental results as well as with the results incorporated into BS 5950. The significance of the findings in relation to practical pitched-roof steel frames is discussed briefly. The aspects of lateral torsional member buckling, frame buckling in a sway mode and local member buckling (web and flange) are excluded from this study.