Plastic design of steel frames for minimum weight

The purpose of this study was to develop a method for weight minimization of the plastically designed frame, braced normal to its plane of action, and composed of prismatic steel members. The method accounts for the non-linear relationship between weight and moment capacity for both beams and columns. Reduction in the pure-bending fully-plastic moment in the presence of axial loading and both beam-column instability and overall frame instability due to sidesway are taken into account. Provision is made for minimization of frames employing standard sections as well as for frames whose built-up members may be chosen from a continuous spectrum. An initial solution to the minimization problem is obtained by the Simplex Method of linear programming, after which a check procedure is used to explore variations in the initial solution to determine if it can be improved. Simple portal frames with fixed end legs and hinged end legs are considered as a model. Design charts are established --Abstract, page ii