Lateral-torsional buckling of composite beams

This paper presents the stability analysis of simply supported and cantilever, thin walled, open section, orthotropic composite beams subjected to concentrated end moments, concentrated forces, or uniformly distributed load. In the analysis, both the transverse shear and the restrained warping induced shear deformations are taken into account. An explicit expression is derived for the lateral-torsional buckling load of composite beams. A simple expression is also presented, which shows the approximate reduction in the buckling load due to shear deformation. It enables us to decide whether the effect of shear deformation is negligible.