Small End Restraint Effects on Strength of H-columns

A parametric study of the strength and behaviour of an axially loaded wide-flange steel column is investigated from the viewpoint of a beam column analysis using the approximate deflection method and the bi-linear fitting for test data of moment rotation relationships of beam-to-column connections and taking into consideration the effects of residual stresses, geometric imperfections and small end restraints. A computer program is developed to obtain the numerical results, from which effective length decreasing factor and maximum load increasing factor are proposed. The validity of the computer model is demonstrated by comparison with the results of a test on an actual column.