The buckling analysis of a cold-formed steel C-sectional column resting on an elastic foundation

The paper is focused on stability analysis of different models of steel cold-formed C-section column. The analysed element may be applied as a primary load-bearing member in steel trusses or silo columns. The column can be used as a support for a wall of roof plates made of corrugated sheets. The wall sheeting that restrains the column against buckling may be considered as an elastic foundation. Due to the design solutions the foundation may be modelled as a series of lateral translational or rotational elastic supports. Such model is used for example in silo column analysis. In the paper linear bifurcation analysis (LBA) of axially compressed columns with different type of elastic foundation is carried by means of ABAQUS software. The analysed thin-walled column (C 250×100×33×4) is regarded as a load-bearing element in a steel hall. The column was modelled by shell elements, the foundation modelled by means of elastic supports. The column length was 5000 mm. The authors present a 3D image of an influence of lateral translational and rotational elastic supports on the buckling resistance of the column