Lateral-Torsional Buckling of Structural Concrete Beams: Experimental and Analytical Study
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 138, Issue 9
Abstract
Precast structural concrete beams have become longer and more slender, increasing the likelihood of a stability failure. Although there are methods to determine the lateral-torsional buckling load for reinforced and prestressed concrete beams, there has been no conformity as to which is the more accurate method, nor do they account for initial imperfections. Six slender, rectangular pretensioned concrete beams were tested and showed that the lateral-torsional stability behavior was similar to that of reinforced concrete beams except for (1) changes in material properties owing to a different stress state and (2) the effects of prestressing on the cracking behavior of the cross section. The stability behavior proved to be sensitive to initial imperfections; therefore, both a geometric nonlinear stability analysis and a simplified equation were developed. The predictive methods were compared with the current and past results, and the analytical methods showed good correlation with all structural concrete experimental results. The results indicate that prestressed concrete beams are susceptible to lateral-torsional buckling and the initial imperfections serve to reduce the buckling load owing to nonlinear geometric behavior and a nonrectangular compression zone.
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Acknowledgments
This study was sponsored by the Georgia Department of Transportation Research Project 05-15. Mr. Paul Liles, State Bridge Engineer, provided many valuable suggestions. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the writers and do not represent the opinions, conclusions, policies, standards, or specifications of the Georgia Department of Transportation. Additional guidance was provided by the following faculty members at the Georgia Institute of Technology: Donald W. White, Kenneth M. Will, and Abdul-Hamid Zureick. Fellow graduate students Robert Moser, Curtis O’Malley, and Andrew Bechtel assisted in the experiments.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 138 • Issue 9 • September 2012
Pages: 1138 - 1148
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 16, 2010
Accepted: Nov 22, 2011
Published online: Nov 24, 2011
Published in print: Sep 1, 2012
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