Application of the Direct Strength Method to local buckling resistance of thin-walled steel members with non-uniform elevated temperatures under axial compression

This paper assesses the applicability of the Direct Strength Method (DSM) to calculating the local buckling ultimate strength of cold-formed thin-walled (CF-TW) steel members with non-uniform elevated temperature distributions in the cross-section. The assessment was carried out by checking the DSM calculation results with numerical simulation results using the general finite element software ABAQUS which was validated against ambient and uniform elevated temperature tests on short lipped channel sections. The validated numerical model was used to generate an extensive database (372 models) of numerical results of load carry capacity of CF-TW members with different uniform and non-uniform temperature distributions in the cross-sections, under different boundary and loading conditions and with different dimensions and lengths. It was concluded that the DSM local buckling curve was directly applicable for columns with uniform temperature distributions in the cross-section. For columns with non-uniform temperature distributions, a modification to the local buckling curve was necessary and this paper has proposed a new curve. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.