Amplification factor

Engineering

Buckling

Materials science

Square (algebra)

Amplifier

Aspect ratio (aeronautics)

Mathematics

Shape factor

Geometry

Composite material

Structural engineering

CMOS

Electrical engineering

Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering

The Canadian Standard S16.1 specifies an equivalent slenderness ratio to be used when determining the compressive resistance of a built-up member when buckling occurs about an axis perpendicular to the interconnectors. This equivalent slenderness ratio is the square root of the sum of the squares of the slenderness ratio of the built-up member acting as a unit and the maximum slenderness ratio of a component part between fasteners. The Standard specifies for this second component that an effective length factor be used, the magnitude of which depends on the type of connection. An effective length factor of 0.65 is specified when welds are used. This is of concern to the authors. It is pointed out that the derivation of this equation by Bleich, and by Timoshenko and Gere, does not contain an effective length factor in the second term. The effective length factor of 0.65 comes from a paper by Duan and Chen. Results of tests on five built-up members, channels arranged in the toe-to-toe configuration, indicate that the use of an effective length factor of 0.65 gives unconservative results, especially when the member is slender. It is recommended that a factor of 1.0 be used in the second term of the equivalent slenderness ratio equation. Key words: battens, built-up members, equivalent slenderness ratio, interconnectors, standards.

Local effective length factor in the equivalent slenderness ratio