Unstiffened Compression Elements

Local buckling and post-buckling behavior of unstiffened elements in cold-formed steel structural sections are studied. Column and beam specimens tested and results obtained are presented. Two effective width equations for the post-buckling behavior have been compared with test results indicating good correlation. Two procedures for calculating the flexural buckling strength of columns including the effects of local buckling, based on tangent modulus and Column Research Council Methods, are presented. The column curves obtained using these two methods indicate good correlation with the results of tests on cold-formed steel columns.