An experimental investigation of T-beam stability under bending

This paper presents an experimental setup used to study the response and stability of T-beams subjected to pure bending. The setup consists of a four-point bending device instrumented to measure the moment and curvature in the beam. Special grips are used to attach the specimens to the bending device and enforce a no-twist condition at the ends of the beams. A special instrument is used to measure deformations induced by buckling along the axis of the beam. Results are presented for the cases of monotonic and cyclic bending of short beams that buckle in a local mode. The results indicate that the lateral deflection of the web of the beams develops a ripple relatively early in the bending process. Local buckles arise from localization of the amplitude of the ripple at a given point along the specimen.