Thin-Walled Structures 81 (2014) 19–28

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Thin-Walled Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tws

Direct strength method of design for shear including sections

with longitudinal web stiffeners
Song Hong Pham a, Cao Hung Pham b, Gregory J. Hancock b,n
a
The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
b
School of Civil Engineering, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Available online 6 November 2013 The paper describes the recently balloted Direct Strength Method (DSM) of design for shear of the
Keywords: North American Specification for Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members NAS S100. The method requires
Cold-formed steel the shear buckling load Vcr of the complete section to be computed. Shear buckling examples of channel
Web stiffeners sections in pure shear using both the semi-analytical and spline finite strip buckling analyses are
Shear strength presented. Recent work on the buckling and strength of channel sections in pure shear with rectangular
Complex channel sections and triangular web stiffeners is also described.
High strength steel & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Direct strength method

1. Introduction This paper describes the recently balloted DSM of design

The Direct Strength Method (DSM) of design was incorporated
as an alternative to the Effective Width Method (EWM) of design
of cold-formed sections in the North American Specification
(AISI S100 [1]) and the Australian/New Zealand Standard (AS/
NZS 4600:2005 [2]). The main advantages of the method are its
simplicity for design engineers and its ability to accurately account
for the behaviour of complex shapes. It accounts for the buckling
behaviour of complete cross-sections as opposed to elemental
design. The DSM as currently implemented only deals with axial
compression (N) and bending (M). It uses the buckling signature
curves readily available in such programs as CUFSM [3] and THIN-
WALL [4].
Recently, considerable research has been performed to add the
third dimension, shear (V), to the method [5]. This work has
involved both theoretical and experimental methods. A key ele-
ment has been the development of the signature curve for full
sections subject to shear [6,7], in a similar manner to those for
compression and bending. New buckling modes in pure shear
include local, distortional and flexural-torsional similar to those
for compression and bending but with phase shifts around the
sections.
n
Correspondence to: School of Civil Engineering, Building J05, The University of
Sydney, NSW 2006, Sydney, Australia. Tel.: þ61 2 9351 2129;
fax: þ61 2 9351 3343.
E-mail addresses: phamsonghong@gmail.com (Song Hong Pham),
caohung.pham@sydney.edu.au (Cao Hung Pham),
gregory.hancock@sydney.edu.au (G.J. Hancock).
for shear of the American Iron and Steel Institute. The DSM as
balloted applies to sections with plain webs and small multiple
intermediate stiffeners. These webs are prequalified according to
the DSM methodology. For more substantial rectangular and
triangular web stiffeners, recent research by Pham et al. [8,9]
and Pham [10] has investigated the buckling and strength of
channel sections in pure shear with complex stiffened webs. The
new research is described in the paper.
2. Elastic buckling analyses
2.1. Buckling analysis methods
Folded plate and finite strip theories for the buckling analysis
of thin-walled sections and stiffened panels in compression have
been developed since the mid-1960s. Two basic approaches
were adopted. These are the exact solutions of Wittrick [11], and
Williams and Wittrick [12], and the approximate solutions of
Przemieniecki [13] and Plank and Wittrick [14] based on the
Semi-Analytical Finite Strip Method (SAFSM) of analysis developed
by Cheung [15,16]. The exact methods only apply to uniform stress
such as uniform compression and not bending. The first paper of
Wittrick [11] shows three distinct buckling modes for a stiffened
panel in pure compression being called overall, torsional and local.
A paper by Williams [17] using the exact method calls the three
distinct modes of a lipped channel strut as local, flange and
flexural/flexural-torsional. Hancock [18] applied the SAFSM devel-
oped by Plank and Wittrick to beams and identified local, distor-
tional and lateral-torsional modes. The SAFSM has the advantage

0263-8231/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2013.09.002
20 Song Hong Pham et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 81 (2014) 19–28

that it includes strips in bending and so could study beams as

well as compression members. The paper by Hancock [18] clearly
identified the signature curve for a beam being the buckling stress
versus the buckle half-wavelength for a single half-wavelength.
Recent developments have included the Constrained Finite Strip
Method (cFSM) [19] which has allowed the buckling mode
decomposition into pure local, distortional and overall modes. In
the earlier papers, the modes tended to be a combination of the
basic modes although normally dominated by one at a particular
half-wavelength.
The case of sections in pure shear has not been studied until
recently using the SAFSM although the methodology was available
in the Plank and Wittrick [14] paper. In the Plank and Wittrick
paper, a complex finite strip method was developed to allow
for the case of shear as well as compression and bending. The
buckling modes require the deformations to be described with
complex terms to allow for the phase shifts along the member. Full
details of the theory of this method, including eigenvalue and
eigenvector routines for complex matrices, are given in Hancock
and Pham [6,7].
Recently the Spline Finite Strip Method (SFSM) of buckling
analysis developed by Lau and Hancock [20] was used to study
the elastic buckling of thin-walled channel sections in pure shear
[21,22]. However, the SFSM does not allow the signature curve for Fig. 1. Shear flow distribution assumed (Case D).
shear to be isolated because it computes the minimum buckling
stress irrespective of the number of half-waves over the length.
Comparisons of the SAFSM and SFSM applied to shear of a channel 1000
Maximum Stress in Section at Buckling (MPa)

section are given in the following section SFSM

SAFSM
800
2.2. Shear buckling examples

A computer program bfinst7.cpp has been written in Visual

Studio C þ þ to assemble the stiffness and stability matrices 600
according to the theory of Plank and Wittrick [14]. It solves t=2mm
for the real eigenvalues using the Sturm sequence property
for complex matrices, and computes the corresponding complex 400
eigenvectors.

2.2.1. Lipped channel section in pure shear 200

In order to understand the shear buckling behaviour of lipped
channel sections, a 200 mm deep lipped channel with flange
width 80 mm, lip length 20 mm and thickness 2 mm as studied
by Pham and Hancock [21] has been used. These dimensions are
all centreline and not overall. In Pham and Hancock [21], three
different shear stress distributions have been investigated. These
are uniform shear in the web alone (called Cases A/B), uniform
shear in the web and flanges (called Case C), and a shear stress
equivalent to a shear flow as occurs in a channel section under a
shear force parallel with the web through the shear centre (Case D
as shown in Fig. 1). In this paper, only Case D is studied as it is the
most representative of practice. The shear flow distribution is not
in equilibrium longitudinally as this can only be achieved by the
way of a moment gradient in the member. However, it has been
used in these studies to isolate the shear from the bending for the
purpose of identifying pure shear buckling loads and modes. The
finite strip buckling analysis allows the uniform shear stresses in
each strip to be used to assemble the stability matrix of each strip
then the system stability matrix [G]. Fig. 1 demonstrates that the
shear flow in each strip is uniform. In the studies in this paper, the
web is divided into eight equal width strips, the flanges into four
each and the lips into one each making 18 strips and 19 nodal
line with a total of 76 degrees of freedom each having real and
complex components.
The SAFSM graph (squares) of buckling stress versus buckle
half-wavelength (signature curve) is shown for the lipped channel
0
10 100 1000 10000
Buckle Half-Wavelength/Length (mm)
Fig. 2. SAFSM and SFSM curves of buckling stress versus half-wavelength/length
for plain lipped channel.
for a range of buckle half-wavelengths from 30 mm to 10000 mm
in Fig. 2 (also in Table A3-1 in Appendix 3 of [6]). The graph
reaches a minimum at approximately 200 mm half-wavelength
then rises and starts to drop at about 800 mm. The rise in the
curve is nowhere near as marked as for equivalent compression or
bending curves for the same section [23]. The mode at 200 mm,
which is the width of the web, is shear local with local buckling
also in the flanges as shown by the contours in Fig. 3. The X Y-axes
are the global axes in the plane of the cross-section where the
X-axis is across the flanges, the Y-axis is across the web, and the
Z-axis is along the member. The flanges (shown as the X-axis
projections) also display local buckling deformations compatible
with the web at X¼ 0 but of a lesser magnitude. The buckling
coefficient (kv) corresponding to the minimum point is 6.583
based on the average stress in the web (τav ¼V/Aw) computed from
the shear load (V) on the section divided by the area of the web
(Aw). The average stress in the web is 0.8723 times the maximum
 Song Hong Pham et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 81 (2014) 19–28 21

Fig. 3. Local buckling mode in shear of lipped channel – case D at 200 mm half-wavelength.

Fig. 4. Comparison of local buckling modes from SAFSM and SFSM.

Fig. 5. Shear distortional buckling modes from SAFSM and SFSM analyses.

stress at the centre of the web. The buckling coefficient (kv) is
significantly greater than 5.34 [23] for a plate simply supported on
its longitudinal edges due to the partial restraint from the flanges
on the web.
The SFSM graph (circles) in Fig. 2 of buckling stress versus
length (as opposed to half-wavelength for the SAFSM) is computed
as in Pham and Hancock [21,22]. The SFSM analysis assumes no
cross-section distortion at both ends of the section under analysis
(Z ¼0, L) and so this restraint increases the buckling stress above
that of the SAFSM which is free to distort at the ends. For a section
of length 200 mm, the SFSM analysis gives a buckling coefficient
(kv) of 9.927 for the web which is very much higher than the
SAFSM value of 6.583 above and above that for a square panel in
shear at 9.34 [24] due to the flange restraint. The SFSM values
asymptote to a value very close to the minimum on the SAFSM
curve at lengths between 1000 mm and 1500 mm. At these
lengths, the end restraint effects become very small and so the
local buckling in multiple half-wavelengths in the SFSM matches
closely with the SAFSM at 200 mm as shown in Fig. 4.
At lengths greater than approximately 1500 mm, the SFSM
curve falls and the mode switches to a type of flange-distortional
mode where the buckling in the two opposite flanges is out of
phase as shown in Fig. 5 at 2000 mm for the SFSM and 1600 mm
for the SAFSM. The web buckling stresses result in buckling
22
coefficients at these lengths which are approximately equal to
5.509 and 5.265 for the SFSM and SAFSM respectively (see
Table A3-1 in Appendix 3 of [6]).
At long lengths such as 5000 mm, a flexural-torsional mode
occurs where the cross-section remains undistorted as shown in
Fig. 6. This mode is somewhat artificial as it is difficult to see how
mainly pure shear could occur at such long lengths. The buckling
stresses in the curves in Fig. 2 continue to drop because of this
mode and so there is no second minimum point on the curves
corresponding to distortional buckling.
To investigate whether the lip size of the channel alters the
shape of the signature curve in Fig. 2, the lip was reduced from
20 mm to 5 mm and 1 mm, all the other dimensions remaining
constant. The buckling stress at the minimum point on Fig. 2
reduces from 119.00 MPa to 109.80 MPa and 105.58 MPa for the
20 mm, 5 mm and 1 mm lips respectively. The maximum point
Fig. 6. Shear flexural-torsional buckling mode from SAFSM at 5000 mm.
800
Maximum Stress in Section at Buckling (MPa)
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
10 100
Buckle Half-Wavelength (mm)
Fig. 7. Signature curves of stiffened web channel with 5 mm indent rectangular
stiffener.
Fig. 8. Buckling modes for stiffened web channel with 5 mm indent rectangular stiffener.
Song Hong Pham et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 81 (2014) 19–28
at a half-wavelength of approximately 800 mm reduces from
147.14 MPa to 130.45 MPa and 127.63 MPa for the 20 mm, 5 mm
and 1 mm lips respectively. It is clear from these values that the
minimum point for local buckling in shear remains no matter how
small the lip.
2.2.2. Web-stiffened channel with a rectangular stiffener
To investigate the effect of the shape, size and number of
longitudinal web stiffeners on the elastic buckling load of channel
sections in shear, a detailed study of sections with one rectangular
stiffener, and one and two triangular stiffeners was performed
[8,9,10]. Several examples for one rectangular stiffener are
included in this section of the paper and, one and two triangular
stiffeners from Pham et al. [8,9] are included in the next section to
show the buckling behaviour.
Fig. 7 shows the shear buckling stress versus half-wavelength
curves (signature curves) for channel sections with one rectangu-
lar stiffener with stiffener width of bs2 ¼5 mm, stiffener depth of
bs1 ¼5–190 mm and thickness of t ¼2 mm. Fig. 8 graphically dis-
plays several buckling mode shapes at the half-wavelength corre-
sponding to minimum stress or at a similar half-wavelength when
a minimum point does not exist.
It is evident that when the stiffener is very small (bs1 ¼5 mm,
bs2 ¼5 mm), a minimum exists and the member buckles locally in
the whole web at the half-wave length of 350 mm as shown in
Fig. 8(b). Clearly, this is not pure local buckling since the junction
lines between the web and the stiffener distort. It is worth noting
that for a plain channel section in pure shear, local buckling as can
be seen in Fig. 8(a) occurs at a half-wavelength equal to the section
depth (200 mm). Interestingly, with the presence of even a very
small stiffener, the buckling half-wavelength corresponding to the
minimum point has significantly been lengthened up to 350 mm.
Also, the shear buckling stress is considerably improved by 24.4%
compared to that of a plain channel section.
As can be seen in Fig. 7, when the stiffener depth (bs1) increases
further, the minimum point is completely removed from the
signature curve. In the web, the buckling mode gradually changes
from the whole web to the stiffener depth (bs1). At the stiffener
depth (bs1) of 60 mm where the web is approximately divided into
three equal vertical flat portions, the shear buckling stress seems
to reach a maximum value. When the stiffener depth increases
further, the signature curve starts dropping to approach that of the
plain channel section. At bs1 ¼150 mm, the minimum point reap-
pears at the half-wavelength of 350 mm and the shear buckling
stress of 147.9 MPa which is not much different from the buckling
stress of the section with the very small stiffener as described
1000 previously (145.9 MPa).
For a stiffener width (bs2) of 30 mm as shown in Fig. 9, the
minima always exist irrespective of the dimensions of the stiffener.
This is due to the fact that the stiffener width is sufficiently wide
 Song Hong Pham et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 81 (2014) 19–28
to provide restraints to the vertical flat plates and allow local shear
buckling to occur mainly either in the flat portions of the web or in
the stiffener depth.
The specific buckling mode shape depends on the depth of the
stiffener. As long as bs1 is relatively small (bs1 is less than 50 mm),
local buckling in the two vertical flat portions of the web governs
the shear behaviour of the sections as shown in Fig. 10(a).
However, small distortional deformations in the stiffener are also
involved. When bs1 increases from 50 mm to 160 mm, pure local
buckling exists in which all junction lines remain straight as
shown in Fig. 10(b) and (c). However, for a larger stiffener depth
(bs1 is greater than 160 mm), distortional deformation reappears
in the parts formed by the stiffener widths and the vertical
components of the web as can be seen in Fig. 10(d). The buckling
half-wavelength corresponding to the minimum elastic shear
buckling stress is approximately equal to the largest depth among
the three vertical flat portion dimensions of the web. This is
different from the cases of a small stiffener width (bs2 ¼5 mm,
bs2 ¼10 mm) where the buckling half-wavelengths are always
larger than the section depth. The explanation of this difference
is mainly due to the increased restraint effect of the larger
horizontal components of the rectangular stiffener attached to
the small vertical components of the web.
Fig. 9. Signature curves of stiffened web channel with 30 mm indent rectangular
stiffener.
Fig. 10. Buckling modes for stiffened web channel with 30 mm indent rectangular stiffener. (a) bs1 ¼5 mm, HWL¼ 100 mmn; (b) bs1¼ 60 mm, HWL ¼80 mmn;
(c) bs1¼ 150 mm, HWL ¼ 140 mmn; (d) bs1 ¼190 mm, HWL ¼230 mmn (n indicates a minimum point).
23
2.2.3. Web stiffened channel with triangular stiffeners
Several examples for one and two triangular stiffeners from
Pham et al. [8,9] are included here to show the buckling behaviour.
Fig. 11 shows the shear signature curves for one central triangular
stiffener where the stiffener size is varied. The angle between the
inclined web portions and the horizontal direction is unchanged
at 451. When the stiffener is small (ds ¼5 mm), the buckling
mode shape shown in Fig. 12(a) and the buckling stress shown
in Fig. 11 are not significantly different from those of a plain
channel section. As ds increases from 15 mm to 40 mm, the mini-
mum disappears while the shear buckling stress continues to
improve. The signature curve regains a minimum point when ds is
45 mm. As ds keeps increasing to 75 mm, the elastic shear buckling
stress reaches a maximum value of 1118.2 MPa. For larger stiffen-
ers (ds is more than 75 mm), the shear buckling stresses start
dropping with a significantly greater increment compared with
the increasing increment.
It is evident from Fig. 12 that the buckling mode gradually
relocates from the whole web to the two vertical web flat portions
and then spreads to all portions of the web including the inclined
ones. When ds is sufficiently large, the member mainly buckles in
the inclined portions of the web. These transitions depend on the
slenderness of the stiffener. Pure local buckling only occurs when
ds reaches a magnitude of 55 mm. Similar to the lipped channel
section with a small square stiffener (bs1 ¼bs2 ¼5 mm), the lipped
Fig. 11. Signature curves for one triangular stiffener.
24 Song Hong Pham et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 81 (2014) 19–28

Fig. 12. Buckling modes for one triangular stiffener. (a) ds ¼5 mm, HWL ¼ 230 mmn; (b) ds ¼ 30 mm, HWL ¼90 mm; (c) ds ¼ 75 mm, HWL ¼80 mmn; (d) ds ¼ 100 mm,
HWL ¼80 mmn (n indicates a minimum point).

channel section with a small triangular stiffener (ds ¼ 5 mm)

mainly buckles locally in the whole web and also includes a little
distortional deformation in the flanges which leads to the fact that
the buckling half-wavelength corresponding to the minimum
shear buckling stress (230 mm) is larger than the section depth
(200 mm). Interestingly, a small triangular stiffener (ds ¼ 5 mm)
only improves the shear buckling stress by 3% which is much
smaller than the enhancement of 24.4% for a small square stiffener
(bs1 ¼ bs2 ¼5 mm).
Figs. 13 and 14 show the shear signature curves and corre-
sponding buckling mode shapes of lipped channel section with
two triangular stiffeners respectively. It can be easily seen in Fig. 13
that the presence of two small triangular stiffeners (ds ¼ 5 mm)
does not significantly improve the shear buckling stresses of the
whole section. The section is buckled locally at a half-wave length
of 230 mm and the shear buckling stress is approximately equal to
Fig. 13. Signature curves for two triangular stiffeners.
that of a plain channel section. Even when ds is 10 mm, only a 14%
improvement is observed.
As ds increases from 15 mm to 65 mm, the signature curve stresses by loads as follows.
shifts up. Consequently, the shear buckling stress is enhanced. In
For : λv r 0:815 : V v ¼ V y ð1Þ
this range of ds (15–65 mm), a minimum point cannot be deter-
mined. When ds increases further from 70 mm, the signature qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
curves, with the occurrence of the minima, start dropping at For : 0:815 o λv r 1:227 : V v ¼ 0:815 V cr V y ð2Þ
shorter half-wavelengths (up to 300 mm) but keep rising at
longer half-wavelengths (longer than 300 mm). This fact is similar For : λv 4 1:227 : V v ¼ V cr ð3Þ
to that of one triangular stiffener which shows that the distor-
tional buckling stress is always improved by adding triangular V y ¼ 0:6Aw f y ð4Þ
stiffener(s).
where V y ¼ yield load of web based on an average shear yield
stress of 0.6fy. V cr ¼elastic shear buckling force of the section
derived by integration of the shear stress distribution in Fig. 1 at
3. Direct strength design buckling overffi the whole section for the minimum point in Fig. 2,
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
λv ¼ V y =V cr .
3.1. Proposed design rules

3.1.2. Proposed DSM design rules in shear with tension field

Proposed DSM design rules have recently been approved for
action (TFA)
the 2012 Edition of AISI NAS S100 [1]. They have been prequalified
The DSM nominal shear capacity (Vv) including Tension Field
for plain webs and webs with small intermediate stiffeners. Rules
Action (TFA) is proposed based on the local buckling (Msl) equa-
for sections with and without Tension Field Action (TFA) have been
tion [1,,2]) where Msl, Mol and My are replaced by Vv, Vcr and Vy
developed as follows.
respectively as in Eq. (5). The choice of this equation as a good fit
to the test results implies the post-buckling strength in shear local
3.1.1. Proposed DSM design rules in shear without tension field buckling is similar to local buckling in bending and/or compres-
action (TFA) sion implicit in the DSM equations:
The equations in Section C3.2.1 of the North American Speci- "  0:4 # 0:4
V cr V cr
fication (AISI S100 [1]) which are expressed in terms of a nominal V v ¼ 1  0:15 Vy ð5Þ
Vy Vy
shear stress Fv have been changed to DSM format by replacing
 Song Hong Pham et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 81 (2014) 19–28
Fig. 14. Buckling modes for two triangular stiffeners. (a) ds¼ 5 mm, HWL¼ 230 mmn; (b) ds¼ 30 mm, HWL¼ 200 mm; (c) ds ¼60 mm, HWL ¼200 mm; (d) ds ¼85 mm,
HWL ¼100 mmn (n indicates a minimum point).
Fig. 15. DSM prequalified webs.
where V y is yield load of web given by Eq. (4), and V cr is the elastic
shear buckling force of the section based on the SFSM where end
restraint is included. Although Eq. (5) is empirical, it has proven
successful for a range of section shapes for local buckling in
compression and bending and it is most likely the case for shear.
Experimental justification for Eqs. (1)–(5) is given in Pham and
Hancock [5]. Eqs. (1)–(5) have been prequalified in the North
American Specification for plain webs and those with very small
intermediate stiffeners based on those used in the test programs
summarised in Pham and Hancock [5]. Small intermediate stiffen-
ers have a minimum point on the signature curve as described in
section above. The prequalified webs are shown in Fig. 15.
4. Strength of web-stiffened sections
4.1. Finite element method (FEM) modelling of pure shear
As discussed above, under a shear force parallel with the web
through the shear centre, a shear stress equivalent to a shear flow
will be distributed in a channel section as shown in Fig. 1. The
shear flow distribution is not in equilibrium longitudinally and can
only be balanced by the moment gradient. In order to isolate the
shear from the bending, a Finite Element Method (FEM) model for
25
cold-formed channel section subjected to pure shear was devel-
oped in Pham [10] and Pham et al. [25] using the ABAQUS FEM
package [26,27] to simulate the variation of the shear flow.
The member is meshed into the finite elements as shown in
Fig. 16(a) so that at each element the shear stress distribution is
assumed to be uniform. The more the cross-section is subdivided,
the more accurately the shear stress is represented in order to
match the practical shear flow distribution as shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 16(b) shows the stress states at element 1 and element 2
extracted from the web. As a result of the variation of shear flow,
the shear stress τ2 is greater than τ1 . Consequently, a difference of
ðτ2  τ1 Þ exists at the common edge between two elements. The
same phenomenon at other common lines occurs and creates the
difference of shear stresses along the lines. In practice, the net
shear stress at each longitudinal line will balance the moment
gradient resulting from the couple of shear forces at two end
sections as shown in Fig. 16(c) to maintain the overall equilibrium
of the whole structure.
Based on the concept described in Fig. 16, pure shear load may
be simulated by a series of longitudinal concentrated forces at the
common nodal lines between the strips and the two free edges of
the lips as shown in Fig. 17(a). The magnitudes of the concentrated
forces applied at a particular line are determined as the difference
of the shear flows between two adjacent strips. These values
are then distributed to each node along the longitudinal line. The
values at the centre line of the web are zero since the shear flows
at the two adjacent strips are equal. In fact, when the longitudinal
forces reach the end sections where there is no restraint along
the member length, a shear flow will be generated to balance
those forces as shown in Fig. 17(b).
To validate this model, simulation of the V-tests in Pham and
Hancock [5] with the shear loading shown in Fig. 17 was per-
formed. Fig. 18 shows the computed shear strengths for the full
range of section sizes tested in comparison with the shear strength
curves proposed for the DSM for shear given by Eq. (5). The plain
C-sections used are those in Fig. 15(a) and the SupaCee sections
used are those shown in Fig. 15(b). As can be seen, the numerical
simulation results fit very well the shear strength curve where the
Tension Field Action (TFA) is included. They lie slightly below
Eq. (5) probably because the model in Fig. 17 has slightly less
restraint to TFA than the actual tests used to calibrate the DSM
equations [5].
4.2. FEM model applied to web-stiffened sections
Channel C-Sections of thickness 1.2 mm, 1.5 mm and 2.4 mm
with one rectangular, and one and two triangular stiffeners as
shown in Figs. 7, 11 and 13 respectively were studied using the
26 Song Hong Pham et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 81 (2014) 19–28

Fig. 16. Pure shear model concept.

Fig. 17. Pure shear loading modelling.

Fig. 18. DSM proposed nominal shear curve and numerical modelling data.
Fig. 19. DSM shear curve and ultimate shear strength for one rectangular stiffener
with 5 mm indent.

FEM analysis by Pham [10] and Pham et al. [25] to see whether the
proposed DSM design curve could be applied to sections with
larger web stiffeners. The computed strengths of the 1.2 mm
sections with one rectangular, and one and two triangular stiffen-
ers are plotted in comparison with the DSM strength curves in
Figs. 19–21 respectively. The elastic buckling loads (Vcr) were
computed from the FEM analysis assuming the simply supported
boundary conditions in Fig. 17(a). The shear yield load (Vy) is given
by Eq. (4) where Aw is the vertically projected web area irrespec-
tive of the stiffener size.
For the rectangular stiffener (Fig. 19), it can be seen that when
the stiffener depth increases from 5 mm to 60 mm, the data
unexpectedly lie well below the DSM curve with TFA. For the
triangular stiffeners (Figs. 20, 21), the shear strength for d¼ 5 mm
lies close to the DSM curve including TFA. For d ¼ 10 mm for both
one and two triangular stiffeners and d ¼20 mm for one triangular
 Song Hong Pham et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 81 (2014) 19–28
Fig. 20. DSM shear curve and ultimate shear strength for one triangular stiffener.
Fig. 21. DSM shear curve and ultimate shear strength for two triangular stiffeners.
stiffener, the data shift significantly to the left and well below the
DSM curve as for the rectangular stiffener. It appears that the
significant increase in Vcr is not fully reflected in a corresponding
strength increase for the 1.2 mm sections with small stiffeners. As
the stiffeners further increase in size, the results are again closer to
the DSM design curve. As presented in Pham [10] and Pham et al.
[25], this phenomenon does not occur for sections with wider
rectangular stiffeners (bs2 415 mm), and for the thicker sections
(t ¼1.5 mm, 2.4 mm) with rectangular and triangular stiffeners.
All the numerical modelling results for the FEM analyses
in Pham [10] and Pham et al. [25] are plotted in Fig. 22. The
predominant shear test series by Pham and Hancock [5] are also
included. The dot-dashed curve is the DSM shear curve with TFA
where a scale factor of 0.9 is applied. It is evident that the data
follows the shear strength curve except for some points marked
as A1 and A2. The curve with a reduction factor seems to better
fit the data rather than the unscaled curve. The reason for the
reduction factor is most likely the original DSM shear strength
curve is based on the tests where the bolting at the end sections
may provide a higher degree of restraint compared with the
idealised simply supported boundary conditions used in the FEM.
The data in the A2 region belongs to the cases where the
stiffener width is very small (bs2 ¼ 5 mm and bs2 ¼10 mm), the
stiffener depth is less than 60 mm and the thickness is 1.2 mm.
These points seem not to follow the DSM curve with TFA and
therefore need to be re-calibrated. Region A1 includes consider-
able data and reflects a trend which the current DSM curve has not
completely covered. The points which trend upwards in the A1
region may be due to inelastic reserve capacity in shear. Further
experimental investigation in the region A2 is underway.
27
Fig. 22. Summary of FEA analysis results.
5. Conclusions
The Direct Strength Method (DSM) of design for shear pro-
posed for use in the North American Specification (NAS S100) has
been summarised. The method requires the computation of the
pure shear buckling load Vcr of the full section. Buckling examples
for plain C-sections, C-sections with a rectangular swage stiffener
in the web, and one and two triangular stiffeners have been given.
The DSM for simple C-sections and Supacee sections using these
values of Vcr has been validated based on the experimental
programs at the University of Sydney and University of Missouri
Rolla and summarised in the paper both with and without Tension
Filed Action (TFA).
To extend the method to sections with larger webs stiffeners
which may be either rectangular or triangular, Finite Element
Method (FEM) strength analyses of sections in pure shear have
been performed. These results are then compared with the DSM
strength equations. For 1.2 mm thick sections with very small
stiffeners and larger stiffeners, as well as all 1.5 mm and 2.4 mm
thick sections, the DSM equations provide a good fit allowing for
the reduction in the FEM results caused by the simpler boundary
conditions than in the tests. However, there appears to be a range
of stiffener size for the 1.2 mm sections where the increase in
buckling load is not fully reflected in an increase in strength.
Further research on this phenomenon is required and is ongoing.
Acknowledgements
The research program was performed under an Australian
Research Council Discovery Grant DP 110103948. The first author
was supported by an Australian Government AusAid Scholarship.
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