Stability analysis of prestressed stayed steel columns with split-up crossarm systems

A Prestressed stayed steel column is an efficient and lightweight way with regard to enhancing the stability behaviour of a compression column. In the past, researchers primarily concentrated on investigating the behaviour of stayed steel columns with horizontal crossarms. However, this article focuses on prestressed stayed steel columns with split-up crossarm system, in which the crossarms are aslant and rotational symmetrically arranged. A mathematical formula calculating the optimal pretension that corresponds to the maximum critical buckling load was established according to geometric analysis based on the small deformation assumption. It was demonstrated that critical buckling mode of this stayed column is different from the one with horizontal crossarms. The governing imperfection direction that should be adopted in the nonlinear buckling analysis was determined in this work. In addition, the effects of crossarm inclination, stay diameter, and crossarm length on the stability behaviour were investigated. An influencing factor denotes the ratio of the load carrying capacity of the prestressed stayed steel column to the Euler load of the main column was also obtained.