A simple solution for lateral buckling of thin‐walled symmetric members

The lateral buckling of a simply supported symmetric thin-walled member is investigated. An energy equation for the lateral buckling of thin-walled member has been presented in which the effects of torsion and assumed warping are taken into account. Using variation method helps to derive the governing differential equation together with appropriated boundary conditions. The lateral buckling loads are obtained by solving the differential equation numerically using Galerkin's method of weighted residuals. The method presented in this paper yields the formula for computing the lateral buckling load that is very simple and straightforward. By the study, a very complex practical eigenvalue problem can be transformed into a very simple one. The results predicted with the analytical method are in good agreement with the ones obtained by experimental, finite integral, non-linear finite element methods and optimal analysis. The fast convergence of the method makes it possible to write the resulting formulae in a likely closed form which is very simple and very convenient to use. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.