Lateral Buckling of Coped Steel Beams

The elastic lateral buckling capacity of coped steel beams with various coping details is examined by conducting a theoretical parametric study using the elastic finite element program BASP. Cope length, cope depth, and span length were found to have a significant influence on the lateral buckling capacity. In some instances the reduction due to coping can be more than 90% of the uncoped buckling capacity. Simple interaction equations, which utilize the individual lateral buckling capacities of the coped region and the uncoped length, are developed for design.