The current work analyses the lateral stability of imperfect discretely-braced steel
beams using variational methods. To facilitate the analysis, Rayleigh-Ritz approximations
are used to model the lateral deflection and the angle of twist. The
applicability of the methods is initially demonstrated for the cases of unrestrained
and continuously restrained beams by comparison with both analytical and numerical
solutions of the governing differential equations of the respective systems.
The method is then applied in full to the case of a discretely-braced beam. Initially,
it is assumed that the degrees of freedom (DOFs) can be represented by
single harmonics; this is then compared to the more accurate representation of
the DOFs as full Fourier series. After carrying out a linear eigenvalue analysis
of the system, it is found that the beam can buckle into two separate classes of
modes: a finite number of modes, equal to the number of restraints provided,
which involve displacement of the restraint nodes and interaction between distinct
sets of harmonics, and an infinite number of single harmonic internodal
buckling modes where the nodes remain undeflected. Expressions are derived for
the elastic critical moment of the beam, the forces induced in the restraints and
the threshold stiffness, i.e. the minimum stiffness required to enforce the first
internodal buckling mode, whereupon the beam attains its maximum achievable
critical moment. The analytical results for the critical moment of the beam are
validated by the finite element program LTBeam, while the results for the deflected shape of the beam are validated by the numerical continuation software
Auto-07p, with very close agreement between the analytical and numerical results. Design formulae, from which practical design rules can be developed, are
given for the critical moment, restraint force and threshold stiffness. The design
rules return values close to those predicted from theory. When compared against
equivalent design rules developed based on analogies with column behaviour, it
is found that the column rules are generally overly conservative for restraints
attached close to the compression
ange and considerably unsafe for restraints
attached close to the shear centre.