A method for analyzing the buckling strength of truss structures

This paper develops a new method for estimating the elastic-plastic buckling strength of the truss structures under the static and seismic loads. Firstly, a new method for estimating the buckling strength of the truss structures was derived based on the buckling strength of the representative member considering the parameters, such as the structure configurations, boundary conditions, etc. Secondly, the new method was verified through the buckling strength estimation and the finite element method (FEM) analysis of the single member models, portal frame models and simple truss models. Finally, the method was applied to evaluate the buckling strength of a simple truss structure under seismic load, and the failure loads between the proposed method and the FEM were analyzed reasonably. The results show that the new method is feasible and reliable for structure engineers to estimate the buckling strengths of the truss structures under the static loads and seismic loads.