Plastic Analysis of Restrained Sway-Columns

Numerical integration techniques are most convenient for accounting for the in-plane inelastic behavior of restrained steel columns permitted to sway. The Column Deflection Curve approach, for example, is one such method. It is also possible to utilize the Column Curvature Curve method in the analysis of these compression members. However, herein, the column integration technique recently developed by the writer is used. The advantage of this procedure is that because bending moments are employed as the main variable, both equilibrium and compatibility can be satisfied simultaneously so that direct convergence to a unique solution is ensured at the end of each integration cycle. A computer program based upon this concept tends to be less time-consuming and does not encounter convergence difficulties even in the unstable portion of the load-deformation curve of such members.