Yielding of Uniformly Loaded Steel Members

Abstract

Expressions are developed for the stiffness of a uniformly yielded steel member. Flexural stiffness is shown to be non-zero for all yielded configurations of the member, and thus non-zero buckling loads may be obtained. The stiffness expressions are developed by considering the discontinuous nature of the yielding of structural steel, and they are presented for later use in a buckling analysis of members in plastically designed steel frames.